The smell of the ocean was a difficult thing to overcome. It seemed to be all he could scent at first, as Edgar slowly strode down onto the dark, sandy shoreline that bordered the endless expanse of water. His eyes traveled over the length of that blue horizon, feeling simultaneously small and perturbed. It was certainly more water than he had ever seen in one place—desert living tended to make you starved for even a puddle of it—but this didn’t smell right at all.

Best let the water be for now.

He instead turned his nose to the sand. Ed was used to the typical golden white sand of the desert, the red of the badlands, but this…he couldn’t place it. It still acted and behaved like sand, shifting with each footfall, packing together where wet, and yet the color was entirely off, the smell somewhat different. It was made of different stuff, he had a very strong suspicion, and yet no way to confirm it.

It left his mind rather quickly when he smelled something else. It was here, mixed in with the smell of the sand, something strange and different. The sandy lion flared his pale nostrils as he tucked his muzzle closer to the dark sand, slowing his step as he tried to follow the scent. Close…very close. Below. He paused and, with an outstretched claw, slowly dug out a handful of sand, and then another.

Something was here. He was going to find it.

@Avreya

+5 Scout a neutral territory (1 of 2)
+5 Follow the scent of prey (1 of 2)
+5 Learn something about a prey animal (1 of 2)

Avreya had not originally come to the shoreline in pursuit of food. As far as she knew, it did not offer much beyond what hid in the ocean, and her hunt with Milano not just a few days ago, the woman was not keen on using up all the valuable energy she had just gained, especially with new lands still to traverse and--apparently--a pecking order to learn among their longer-standing residents. No, she would be content for a little while if she needed to be.

Her curiosity, though, was a different story--and rightfully so, as she spotted a beige silhouette against the dark sand. He was digging at it, seemingly fixated on something under the surface. What could it be? Avreya took a few moments to observe the stranger before advancing toward him with an intrigued lash of her tail, taking care to stay at arm's length in case he did not notice her presence. "Are you searching for something?" There was some skepticism to her voice, but as she observed @Edgar, she also sampled the air in hopes of answering the question for herself. Perhaps she smelled something, but the briny air had nearly turned her nose numb.
"SPEECH."

RANGER:
+5 Follow the scent of prey (1/2)
+5 Learn something about a prey animal (1/2)
+5 Learn something from another about your trade (1/2)

code by scorpixia♡︎

Though he didn’t catch the stranger’s scent on the air—how could he in this place?—he did hear the soft sound of footfalls on sand drifting nearer. His ears swiveled upward and, with a slight tension, Edgar swiftly shifted his eyes up, taking the stranger in. Nothing about her posture indicated a threat, nothing about her mismatched eyes spoke of ill intent. Maybe he could relax…for now.

When she stopped just a short distance away, he quietly, discreetly tried to catch her scent, confirming something for himself. She wasn’t part of a pride. Though the few interactions he’d had with the pride lions had thus far been cordial, most had been done under the pretense of a hunt—something all of them benefited from. He couldn’t have been so certain one approaching him on their lonesome, without a clear intent, could be taken so casually.

Thankfully this lioness didn’t seem to belong anywhere, and she made her intentions fairly clear straight away. Are you searching for something? Edgar blinked impassively for a moment, deliberating, before he quirked a brow and cocked his head. Something, alright. Lowering his head, his eyes still trained on @Avreya, he pointedly scented at the sand in the divot where he’d been digging, finding for himself that same trace of shellfish that wafted up from below.

Stepping back, he gestured with a jut of his chin at the hole in case she wanted to sate her curiosity. See for yourself.

+5 Follow the scent of prey (2 of 2)

Perhaps Avreya would not have been so outrightly inquisitive if not for the fact that @Edgar appeared so fixated on the sand...or, rather, whatever was hiding within it. However, it seemed that her straightforwardness would serve to benefit her in many ways--ways that went beyond satisfying her curiosity. She stayed put long enough for him to find his bearings, observing him patiently as he studied her from head to toe and waiting for some kind of signal that it was safe to approach...or not.

Eventually, she saw his guard lower; he said nothing, but his posture deflated, and he even seemed to urge her to take a look at the curiosity for herself. With a flick of her tails, Avreya crept forward. The smell he seemed to be tracking was more prominent now, but while it was not entirely pleasant, it was fresh in its own way. She bit back the urge to wrinkle her nose as she extended a paw to continue the hole he had started in the sand.

One last scoop of mud separated them from their prize. Her claws scraped against it rather pleasantly, but as she dislodged it from its hiding place and picked it out, it became clear this was no rock, and it certainly did not resemble any of the shells she was used to seeing along the shore. Clean pink-and-cream striations spidered out from a blunt pointed tip then met again in two perfect spirals. Avreya was not sure which was more mesmerizing: the whole clam, which she hated to admit she had never encountered before, or its intricate shell.

She turned her attention to the male now and stepped back, a silent invitation for him to take his turn in inspecting his finding.

Avreya and Edgar have found a heart clam.

RANGER:
+5 Follow the scent of prey (2/2)
+5 Learn something about a prey animal (2/2)
+5 Learn something from another about your trade (2/2)
"SPEECH."

code by scorpixia♡︎

Edgar took another polite step back when the lioness seemed interested enough to take him up on his offer of investigating his find, and watched as she dipped her dark nose in to catch the scent. He saw a similar glint in her eye to his own, that keen awareness of something residing just out of sight and a desire to dredge it up into the light of day. When @Avreya made to reach into the hole to continue digging, he smirked.

Sidestepping, the dun lion brought himself into a better position to watch her work and closely stared at the sand that she drew away—nope, not in there—before going back in. Ah. There it was.

Though what it was he hadn’t a damn clue. The shellfish stood out in stark contrast against the dark sands of the shoreline, a pretty little thing striped in pink, entirely foreign to the lion who hailed from a rocky desert wasteland. What…is it? A frown, puzzled and frankly confused, spread quickly across his face as he stepped in again for a closer look. It certainly smelled as he expected it to, but as to anything else about it…

He shot a questioning look at Avreya, wondering if she knew any more than he did. This familiar to you?

Normally, Avreya might have thought this level of silence to be a little odd--not that she was much of a talker. Then again, she supposed she was not really the kind to go digging in the sand with a stranger, either. But this was her new home, and she had already had her fair share of small talk upon her arrival, so this opportunity--to learn something new about her surroundings without having to put on some sort of face--was a welcome one. In any case, whatever questions she might have had about this male's quiet nature were long gone now, answered inadvertently by his nonverbal language. Whether or not he chose to communicate with her the way he did, he did it plenty well enough, and that was all she required.

@Edgar shot her a clear look of confusion, his eyes seeming to seek answers from her own, but all Avreya could do was shake her head in return. With a flick of her tails, though, she turned her attention back to the curious specimen they had unearthed, reaching out with a careful paw to tip it upward and hold it there. Her gaze flitted back to his. Should they open it?
"SPEECH."

code by scorpixia♡︎

A headshake. Damn. She was just as clueless. Well, at least that was something they could share. Edgar frowned more outright and sniffed with a sour look, knowing neither of them were likely to get the answers they wanted without someone more knowledgeable around, but it wasn’t like they could flag anyone down. Last he’d checked the shore was empty aside from them.

He continued to watch the mauve lioness as @Avreya took the little shellfish and tipped it upward, carefully held between dark and an equally dark paw, with a purposeful look. Ed looked between her and the clam for a few seconds before it clicked. Should she open it? He nodded and swept a striped foreleg in the direction of the little shellfish held gently in its upright position. Lady gets the honors.

She seemed pretty quick; he figured she’d understand.

Did Avreya like shellfish? She could not say she had ever tried it. Did it smell appetizing? Sort of...but not really. If anything it smelled like seawater. Nothing about it indicated that it was inedible, though, and so the woman waited patiently for @Edgar to agree to see what it looked like on the inside. When he urged her on with a wave of his paw, she took in a breath through flared nostrils and closed lips, nodding and looking back toward the clam.

Now...how to go about it?

It was obvious it would not give under a paw or claw alone. Somehow, it was strong enough so far to withstand being scooped from the sand and rolled around. So, crouching, Avreya tilted her head and felt for the seam with a probing canine, attempting to wedge it between the halves. There was a crack, followed by a curious glance upward at the tan male before she dropped it and stood back up to assess its barely-solid contents.

"Well...it's ugly," she decided with a dry chuckle. Stepping back, she made room for Edgar to step in, watching his expression with a smirk and waiting to read his reaction.
"SPEECH."

code by scorpixia♡︎

His curiosity was piqued by the entire situation. When was the last time he’d done anything with another lion? One who wasn’t put off by his silence or tried to fill it with every word he would never say? This two-tailed woman (strange in her own right, he assumed) didn’t flinch at the quiet, seemed receptive to his wordless gestures, and shared what appeared to be an odd curiosity in the new creatures of this world. It was possibly the first interaction—hunts aside—where he felt anything akin to actual normal, healthy connection.

So he lived in the moment. Edgar’s brown eyes were transfixed upon the shell and @Avreya as she set the item upon the sand and, with great care, managed to wedge a tooth between its two halves and gently pried the thing open. His nose was already working the second it split, eager paws bringing him inches closer, as she got the first proper look. He watched her as much as he did the shellfish.

Her reaction wasn’t optimal, but it did draw an answering airy exhale from the dun colored lion, the closest he could get to a laugh, from within a toothy smile of his own. He took the offered space to step in and inspect the opened shellfish up close, immediately lowering his pink nose to hover over it as he smelled, though much like when it had been closed it still smelled mainly “of the sea” to him. Chalk it up to inexperience, he supposed.

On a whim, he shot his tongue out, a quick and tentative taste of the shell’s insides, and his muzzle wrinkled with deep uncertainty. Not…not what he expected—a slippery texture, a sea-salt taste—but… No. He decided rather quickly that it didn’t mesh with his palette, or his diet of inland animals, and he backed away from it with a shake of his head. Nah, not for me, he seemed to say as he shared a look with the mauve lioness again, licking at his lips as if it might get the taste off of his tongue.

Like @Edgar, it had also been far too long since Avreya had had such an easy encounter with another lion. After her trek, she was pleased to relax with someone who did not seem to hang on her every word, with collaborating to dig up and pry open some strange and salty treat that was free of kicking hooves or waving horns. For once in a long while, she felt mostly free to drop her guard, and the relief it brought her was a kind that she had a hunch would not be felt again in some time.

His distaste was almost enough to turn her off from trying the clam herself, but then, Avreya had not gone through all this effort for nothing, and she could not leave the poor man to suffer alone. So, after snorting again at the sight of his grimace, she lowered her head and, breaking through a brief pause of uncertainty, rasped her own tongue over the strange blob of flesh.

Oh. Oh, no.

The woman recoiled, lips pulling back to expose her teeth as she too licked at her maw in an attempt to disperse and numb her mouth to the salt and slime. When she felt her lit-up taste buds were under control, she looked down at the clam then back up at Edgar, her gaze almost apologetic for being the one to have revealed this disappointing treasure.

"What do you say we hunt for something with a few more bones?" she offered, half-jokingly, though she was sure he might appreciate a proper morsel after their efforts--and something to wash the taste out of his mouth.

/exit Avreya
"SPEECH."

code by scorpixia♡︎