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Sep. 29th : Lupus
The mutts tracks dented the sand far back into the southern horizon, the path marked by canid prints scattered lazily behind. Finally getting a reprieve from the Castle was a relief, as soon as the rains had lightened she had been out, searching the shores again for her shipmates. Aoves had been steadily loping well through the dawn and into the afternoon, but soggy paws lifted and fell determinedly as she plodded the length of the waterlogged shore. Her eyes had long since been deadened to the misted white that billowed off the sea, her focus unwavering as she plodded loyally forward, treating every form that flickered in the corner of her eye as no more than a shadow bouncing off the mist.
Something further ahead caught her attention though; a form that did not dissipate or spiral lazily away - whatever it was, the thing was solid, and motionless. Her trot slid into a languid lope, the pace quickening further as the mass began to take form. A sharp yelp rang out across the shore as she neared it, the sound trailing off into a shameful, pitiful whine as she realized the cry had been her own. Eyes slid slowly over the misshapen form, blank with horror and disgust.
A grotesquely swollen body had been placed ashore by the waves, the thin white skin of her captain now pulled taut against his bloated body, strained as though barely withstanding the tension of water trapped within translucent flesh. Scant tendrils of strawberry hair still managed to cling to his skull, plastered by slimy salt and grime - and the rest had likely eaten away by the fish, or shredded as he crashed his way down the rocky coast. The corpse had clearly traveled far, the sorry remainder of a scalp and other missing patches hinting that the jagged coastline had done more damage than the sea and storm.
Silver eyes completed their course along his body; but she could only stand there motionless, staring all the while. It shamed her to admit it, but the thought of contact with the pale mess of flesh filled her with repulsion beyond belief. There was something so different in this from the death of prey; dark blood would spill from their wounds, the crimson flow of their lifeblood persisting even after death. The thing at her feet hinted at none of that however - his booming laugh seemed misplaced on those jaws now peeled back in rigid grimace, no hint of color decorated the corpse besides the dreary green of sea weed. It was as though he had never been alive.
She lowered slowly to her haunches, simply deciding to pay her final respects with head bowed, clouds of white escaping from her parted jaws in a wordless prayer.
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