I need nothing To travel the sea

I need nothing I need nothing But there's something Eating at me Black water Take over Swallowed by a vicious vengeful sea Darker days are raining over me In the deepest depths I lost myself See myself through someone else The strange silence Surrounding me Grows closer Feels colder But I'm ready To suffer the sea Black water Take over Swallowed by a vicious vengeful sea Darker days are raining over me In the deepest depths I lost myself See myself through someone else

At first, he hadn't thought anything of it. It wasn't unusual for early-morning fog to linger a little longer on some days than it did on others. However, with each consecutive day, he was forced to admit there was some sort of pattern happening. Not one strange enough to cause concern - perhaps it simply meant an incoming summer storm? Changes in air pressure and temperature and all those things a rather clever old bird had explained to him as a cub. There were days he missed his homelands dearly, and memories like that did not soothe the ache or patch the hole leaving had left behind. Ultimately, he reasoned, it was for the best, but...some days were harder than others. On those days, he sought comfort in the formless noise of the sea.

More than once, he'd looked out across the short stretch of ocean, to the little island set apart from the rest. Only today had he decided the water and risk were low enough to wade out to the opposite shore and finally get a good look at the place.

Upon arrival, however, he was surprised by the array of scents. It seemed he wasn't nearly the first to make the trip (not surprising, of course), but also there seemed to be regular visitors. Interesting. His time in the land had taught him a few of its quirks - one being the apparent designated, accepted, and permanent territories for the various prides that ringed the edges. So it didn't immediately occur to him that some other group might have set up camp here, so to speak. Nor did it occur to him that something similar was the exact explanation for the strange busy feeling the jungle had had recently. And so he thought very little of continuing his exploration of the area, following the sandy edge and water line around the perimeter and occasionally letting his attention wander to the open ocean.

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Stygian Shore was but a short walk from Caladan Cove, and Revna had decided that she needed to get a better lay of the land if she was to do her job correctly. So, leaving behind the Cove and her husband and wife, she had made her way to the black sands of the Stygian Shore.

New here, she found the black sands of the shore intriguing, but didn't stop to worry about the coloration. There was something about the shade of the beaches that made everything seem darker and cooler, which made her feel a little more at home. Perhaps she would visit this place again and investigate it more thoroughly.

What caught her attention was a shoreline not too far out into the ocean, tempting her. From this distance it looked to be an island, and the water between here and there seemed to be calm and shallow enough for a wade or an easy swim. Though her original goal had been to explore and familiarize, she now found her curiosity piqued, and it wasn't long before she was slipping into the ocean waves and cross to the other shore. The waves lapped gently at her pelt here, as the ocean was shallow and the waves broken by the island. She had to swim in some places, but otherwise it was an easy crossing and she soon found herself on the not-so-distant shore.

As she raised herself from the water to the beach and the saltwater scent cleared from her nose with a few intakes of fresh air, Revna was startled to realize that many scents of other lions mingled here. So thick and numerous were they that she began to believe that there must be someone living here; perhaps a pride, though she'd not heard of one being close by, other than Scilla Lagoon, where the rest of the family had made their home.

A little worried that she might be trespassing, she looked around for signs of life, and immediately found, not too far down the shore, the shape of a brown colored lion, with a slightly darker mane. Not one to simply hide when she had made a mistake, she called out over the gentle hum of the sea. "Do you live here?" She spoke the common tongue rather than her home language, and her accent was thick. They were not so far off that he wouldn't hear, but she did have to shout a little. Immediately, so that he could answer her more easily, she trotted closer, alert but confident in her approach.


@Corvus ★ @Sherlock

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I need nothing To travel the sea

I need nothing I need nothing But there's something Eating at me Black water Take over Swallowed by a vicious vengeful sea Darker days are raining over me In the deepest depths I lost myself See myself through someone else The strange silence Surrounding me Grows closer Feels colder But I'm ready To suffer the sea Black water Take over Swallowed by a vicious vengeful sea Darker days are raining over me In the deepest depths I lost myself See myself through someone else

There was definitely a group living here. Too many repeating scents for there to be any other explanation. Briefly, he wondered if such a group would be as protective over their territory as the other prides across the land. That thought led in to wondering whether the other prides recognized such a group as a 'real pride' - whatever that meant here. Outside of Amaryllis, he'd never encountered an area with designated territories. Prides rose and fell in whatever unclaimed patch of land was suitable, stability in their territories coming from desirability of location and resources (something at least a couple here lacked, in his opinion).

The longer he explored, the less he worried about someone confronting him about trespassing. Even when the dark figure of a stranger came into view, he didn't immediately think it was some resident coming to shoo him away. Her confidence was not that of someone coming to exercise any authority, and her question as she drew close enough seemed to confirm his assumptions.

Attention shifted to the stranger, absorbing details in the space of a breath. Dark. Monochrome except for her eyes. Scent of the coast - but that mix of salt and sand might also be blamed on the swim, so he'd reserve judgment there. Accented voice, but not one that matched a language he spoke. "I'm only here to explore." No, he didn't live in this area. "You're here for a similar reason, I assume?" Considering she didn't seem to live here either, it seemed a safe assumption to make. Unless he'd wildly mis-read the situation and she was just very good at pretending.

@Revna

code by corvus

Despite the heavy scents of strangers all around, it remained just herself and the other lion on the shore of the island. Whoever seemed to frequent the area was not present at just this moment. Perhaps for the best if they had claimed this the way in which the prides tended to claim and defend territory. It would be bad for her to be making enemies for the Cove when she had barely just been made a noble.

The lion did not react in a way that made her think he was defending his territory, so his response to her inquiry was not particularly surprising. He was rather dull as lions around here went, with his plain brown coat with little in terms of variation, save for the lightening around his muzzle and undersides. His mane was more striking, the brown so dark it almost looked black. She could hardly speak to his plain appearance, though, when her own fur was monochrome, only varying in the shade of black here and there.

"Já," (Yes) she said in her native tongue, nodding her head in the affirmative since it was likely he didn't understand. Besides other Sigrun, few seemed to speak their home language here. "I'm from a pride not far from here - Caladan Cove." She moved a paw to indicate the direction, down the black shoreline she - and likely he - had crossed from. "I've just become a noble there, and I'm exploring the lands around our territory. My family and I are still new here."



@Corvus ★ @Sherlock

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I need nothing To travel the sea

I need nothing I need nothing But there's something Eating at me Black water Take over Swallowed by a vicious vengeful sea Darker days are raining over me In the deepest depths I lost myself See myself through someone else The strange silence Surrounding me Grows closer Feels colder But I'm ready To suffer the sea Black water Take over Swallowed by a vicious vengeful sea Darker days are raining over me In the deepest depths I lost myself See myself through someone else

Ears flicked forward at the vaguely-familiar language. The simple, short, word was not enough to confirm what it was, exactly, but combined with her general accent it seemed at least a cousin to one he spoke. He expected that was as far as the similarities went, though.

Satisfaction came with her confirmation she was, indeed, from the cove - it was a lovely territory, if vulnerable to the wrath of the sea. Outside of attending challenges, he'd visited the territory exactly once in search of someone he'd foolishly hoped might become a pleasant acquaintance. Since then, he'd seen no sign of the girl and had eventually assumed she'd left the lands for something else. It was entirely likely the whole of the cove as he'd known it then had scattered, either to other prides or other lands.

Sherlock nodded lightly, "I'm familiar with the cove, it's somewhat recently come under new leadership." if one considered the few months between then and now 'recently', "The former ruler of the hollows, if I'm not mistaken." Scent could tell a lion many things if they only knew what to look for, and he liked to believe he knew Amaryllis and her prides very well by now after all the effort spent (and continuing to be spent) on exploring and mapping out every inch.

"Is she family, then?" Simple curiosity, an innocent desire for information. Personally, he had no political connections, nor did he fully care for the relationships between prides beyond keeping tabs on potential tensions and how they might affect his own den area. It was unlikely that full-scale war might break out between, say, the rainforest and the mire, and that said hypothetical warm would take place in the jungle between the prides, but odds were never precisely zero and he'd be very annoyed to suddenly have his home in danger.

@Revna

code by corvus

The male seemed at least vaguely knowledgeable of the area and the prides that called the ocean home. Revna found herself wondering if he might know of some of the other prides as well, but tucked the thought away for another moment, when she had seen the conversation through further.

"Yes, just a few months ago," she responded, fully in common this time though her accent was still very thick. New to Amaryllis, it would be some time before that accent toned down a bit. Even more time if she spent most of her time around family with the same accent. "Though I do not know where she ruled before." That had been before her time here, and she hadn't been told the details of all that her family had been up to thus far.

Revna nodded affirmation to his inquiry. "She is a cousin of my husband's," she offered, but gave no names just yet. He hadn't asked, and she was still judging how much was good to share in this strange new land. "We migrated here recently, and joined her pride." New Sigruns, to fill out the ranks of a new pride. New opportunities for them all.

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