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backdated to a few days after this thread !!

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Mithwyth had never shied from the nature of her spirit. Her restless feet, her eyes always gazing beyond the horizon, wondering what lay behind the mountains or the hills. Somewhere along these journeys she had accepted that friends are come and go. Never to stay, never permanent.

Oh, but she won’t deny the company of another, even if temporary.

Her tail wags, whipping against her shin as she glances over her shoulder with a toothy grin, gaze directed to Nate  and Ko-Ga .

“C’mon!” She bounces playfully, dipping her head in the direction of the beach as grass bleeds into black sand and ice shimmers around them, the sunlight catching betwixt crystal shards. The clouds drift lazily on the sky, covered in hues of pink and gold.

Mithwyth, despite thinking of the beach of drab before in the overcast sky, sees the beauty now. A sense of pride overcomes her as she looks back at the pair to see their reaction.

CW mentions of racism/abuse

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Nate found himself having more frequent internal arguments about whether it was good to be in the company of another. Because he knew, deep down, that it wasn't. Eleanore had been the only person he'd ever thought to consider a permanent life with, and the dream of that had been cut so violently short that it invited no speculation about the severity of his mistake.

But he wasn't a person, anymore, was he? And there was some grim amusement in becoming a beast, like small-minded pricks had sometimes called him under their breath. He'd turned fists on them for it. But when they cursed hellfire on him, he was pretty sure it wasn't the shape of a wolf their damnations were meant to work upon his soul. You didn't give teeth like this to an enemy.

So something else was at work. And a she-wolf was doing her damndest to show him the beauty in an unfamiliar world, as if she'd never seen how savagely it could all be snatched away by careless strangers. It inspired some feeling of protectiveness in him, which he doubted she had any use for. But smiling for Mithwyth afforded him little time to brood.

Like now.

And he had to admit, she'd brought them to quite the sight. Black sand like black horses, darker than a starcast sky. With gleaming ice scattered across, a spotted blanket that near blinded him in certain angles. He hurried after her indulgently, breaking into a half-run with a wagging tail he didn't have to pretend at. I think you undersold it a little! He laughed.

Ko-Ga cried exultantly overhead, riding wind off the ocean high above them in playful rolls and spins.

Ko-Ga's theatric show of joy coaxes a laugh from her, lightly-pitched and she wonders what the view was from up there! That was a question she once posed to her father's messenger of Tengri, golden feathered and golden eyed. He hadn't responded, but if Ko-Ga could find the words, maybe he'd be a good enough source.

"It looks different in this light!" she admits.

It's this sort of light that reminds her of her home. The sunlight upon the shore, harbor seals and their barks in the distance and blackfish breaching the surface. Something wild makes her blood run hot and she feels the need to move in her paws. Brushing shoulders with Nate, she then runs in a quick dash.

"Let's race!" Wind in her coat, salt in the air. There was nothing better than this!

She was going to win.

But he didn't care. When she surged ahead his feet followed, big clumsy things over the sand answering an instinct he didn't understand and maybe wasn't meant to. Chase! Wind buffeted his fur, and after a certain number of strides he forgot why he cared so much about panting too obviously. Tongue lolled against his cheek.

He found a rhythm. It felt good.

And she may as well be miles away!

Nate laughed, pushing himself harder, tail wagging like a malfunctioned rudder behind him, Hey! How about a handicap, gimme a head start next ti—

Right! There was ice here, too! Eyes fixed on Mithwyth forgot that paws weren't made for skating, especially not at speed. A foreleg spun wildly off track and the rest of him followed, rolling full tilt into a newly-made crater of sand, and swallowing perhaps half of that.

She stifles a giggle as she charges ahead and glances back, watching Nate struggle to keep up. For being built like a runner, he sure has the gait of a deer with four left hooves! Lifting her head, she howls, song carried on the wind as she stretches her gait to its limit.

Then, Mithwyth yelps as he tumbles forward, paws scattering for traction before he rolls himself into a pile of sand headfirst. Spinning around, she slows her trot, ears pricked forward.

“Oh, shit! I’m sorry!” she says, pinning her ears with a sheepish smile. Gingerly, she lifts her paw, swipes a little at his fur where sand has coated his wisps. “You got a little there.”

Language from a woman wasn't exactly surprising. That was to say — not proper, exactly, but Eleanore didn't feel her station and breeding put her above a good shit or hellfire now and then, and he'd got accustomed to occasional (frequent) foulness.

But he'd been caught off guard, with Mithwyth! He laughed. At her, and himself. And then, for good measure, at the absurdity of absolutely everything.

Hiding the unseemly clench of anxious muscle at her touch behind an abrupt effort to stand, he grinned and shook out his fur. Ouch. That would bruise. Did you see that bit of ice leap up out of nowhere to bite me? Completely uncalled for!

His laughter is assuring, given that he had quite the slip and tumble! The mirth in his voice brings out another chuckle and she waits for him to get back on his feet, tail waving gently in the sea breeze.

"You ought to teach it a lesson," she agrees, raising a brow. After a moment, she glances back out at the lapping waves, sun glinting off the water and assaulting her eyes. Nate seems a great deal brighter in the light of the sun, his gray-blue coat more radiant. "I've got more to show you. C'mon!"

Trotting ahead, careful not trip on any jagged edges of frozen crystals like her companion, she can see a mass of dusky blubber in the distance. It's a sight she's known since her youth, their bark all too familiar. The seals moved like beached whales, crowding each other on the shoreline. Glancing back at him, she awaits his reaction, hopes for one, really.

You're right. He nodded with faux scowl, glaring down at the slick of ice. You hear that? Lady says I oughta give you what-for over a slight like that. And he growled a little, for good measure. Then grinned back at her, I think it gets the idea. We can probably let it... slide. Just this once.

Squinting in the direction of her aim, he tilted his head and followed. His shoulder smarted with each step, but Nate refused to limp and walked through the pulses of clumsy consequence.

He saw the shapes in the distance — but it was the smell of them that truly captured his attention. Like the sea but stronger somehow, a living part of it. His nose wrinkled. But his eyes were wide. Woah...

Their hollering was loud enough to twitch an ear even over the surf and wind. Perplexion on his face molded into a baffled grin, and his tail wagged. Now that's something I've never seen before.

Nate is easy to get along with for Mithwyth. She finds him to be appropriately serious, and more than appropriately a jokester when needed.

She slows down to match his stride. It’s hardly in either of their interests for him to be hobbled in the morning due to walking too fast and injuring himself once more. The way his eyes widen make her blood surge with pride and joy, as he takes in the scene before him.

“They’re seals!” she barks out, grinning. Pouncing forward, she chuffs out a greeting to the pod of pinnipeds. Some grunt and squeak back at her, shuffling away with fervor on the black sand. They make a path for the two wolves to walk through.

The first sight of such beings for him and she can’t help but wonder.

“What’s the weirdest creature you’ve ever seen?” she asks.

Taking a cue from her boldness, Nate followed Mithwyth into the parting horde — though his experience with herdbeasts kept him watching for any seals that might take a less neighborly view of the intrusion. They looked heavy. They definitely had teeth! Crushed by seal would be an embarrassing way to die, he figured. Or — die twice. Especially with Mithwyth watching!

Lip pursing thoughtfully, he recalled what animals he knew — elk, puma, bear. Animals she must know. Roadrunners across the plain, bobcats perched on cactus, and even a wild jaguar, once, with eyes gleaming through the scrub. Vultures swimming lazily beneath clouds and bluebirds singing in snow. Dragonflies and fireflies and mayflies and cicadas. Moles with mushed faces, a mule deer with antlers that drooped like melted candles. Ko-Ga, with his mottled feathers.

He'd entertained children sometimes with the tales. But for a seasoned traveller like Mithwyth, he thought he ought to present something truly miraculous.

So after a moment of carefully wound up, theatrical consideration, he supplied with gravitas, A giraffe. One of the rare times he'd had some extra spending money, at just the right time to get into a traveling show. His ears pricked and he waited expectantly as they walked. Did she know about giraffes?