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schwarzThe harbor was probably the most interesting area he had found yet! Seagulls called overhead, screaming their unknown disapproval. They were scary. But they didn’t seem to be too interested in him so he could ignore them as well. Roulette trotted along the water’s edge, the tail of waves lapping at his little paws as he splashed up and down the shore. He would have to show Avarice this place later! Down the beach he went, soon coming upon a long deck stretching out into the water. Leaving little paw prints trailing behind him, the pup briskly made his way down to the end.
schwarzWind ruffled his fluffy cinnamon fur and his tiny nostrils flared at the salty scent of the ocean. This was all so new to him! He was never this excited without his sister. He wondered if he should go get her… but he was too curious.
schwarzReaching the end of the dock, Roulette peered over the side into the waters that matched his eyes… and saw another puppy staring back! The other seemed just as surprised to see him, as he was to see them. Backing away from the edge of the dock, he looked around. Was he hiding under the dock? Blinking in confusion, the pup peered back down into the water. Again the face that matched his own started back at him, distorted slightly by the small trickle of waves rolling in. The other pup was under the water!
schwarzRoulette leaned over the edge of the deck, trying to bat at the water between the other pup and himself. Unfortunately for him, he misjudged the distance between himself and the water. Leaning too far over, with most of his weight now suspended in air, the pup lost his balance and tumbled, head first, into the sea.
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Slaying the Dreamer
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Slay inhaled deeply, appreciating the salty scent of the coastline. The pups had all but settled into their new home; they often spent their whole days outdoors wandering the packlands, and each night they all obediently trundled back into the church to be fed and go to sleep. It had become a routine now, and since they had each proven their independence, Slay felt it was safe enough to go on an excursion of his own. The beach was a fair walk from their home, but it was one of the arctic wolf's favorite places, and one that was important to him and his mate. Anxious thoughts still worried the big male, though - how were the children handling their abandonment? None of the brothers or sisters had really opened up to him, or Cer as far as he knew. He was already feeling attached to the patchwork puppies, but it hurt him to see that none of them were attached to him. Sighing, Slay let his ice-pale eyes comb the shore, watching the placid waves lapping at the sand.
Was that... a puppy?
Slay sprang to his paws, scattering sand about him. Avarice - no, Roulette - was on the docks! He hadn't expected the little boy to make it this far from the den. Playing in fields was one thing, but the ocean could be dangerous for a small child to be unsupervised! His natural protective instincts flared as the pup teetered on the edge, staring at his own reflection. "Oh, he's too close, he's about to-" Slay's mutterings were cut short as Roulette splashed into the cold saltwater, just as predicted. Grimacing, the big male bounded down the beach, splashing through the shallows along the docks to reach his adopted kin. Scooping the de Sadira between his jaws, the adept swimmer paddled back to the safety of the dock, his thick arctic fur shielding his large frame from the chill of the spring sea.
He gently dumped the boy onto the slippery wood before clambering up himself, his ebony-daubed pelt heavy with dripping water. Would the boy understand his English? It wouldn't hurt to try, he supposed, before roughly shaking his coat drier. "You need to be more careful, mate," he lectured sternly, before cracking a smile. No harm, no foul. "Do you even know how to swim?"
I've got soul but I'm not a soldier
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schwarzWith a loud splash, the water washed over the pup, filling his mouth and nostrils with salty liquid as he tried to cry out. Panicking, Roulette lashed out with all four legs in a feeble attempt to reach the surface…. but which way was it? He couldn’t breathe! He was probably only under the water for a few seconds before Slayer rescued him, but if the pup had any actual grasp on time he probably would have said it was hours.
schwarzCoughing and spitting salt water, the same salt stinging his eyes, Roulette hung limply in the older male’s mouth as he was carried back to shore. He certainly wasn’t too enthused with this area any longer. He just wanted to go home now. Home? Was that what the church was to him now? He had been trying his best not to think of it as such. Home was where mama was and she definitely wasn’t there. …but it seemed like forever since she left the pups with this man and his mate. “I want Mama…” the pup whispered in German, probably not loud enough for Slay to hear him. He wouldn’t let himself cry. The others would pick on him. He’d settle for Avarice for now if his mother were unavailable.
schwarzAfter shaking out his fur in a mirror of Slayer’s actions, Roulette sat in the sand, gulping down air as though he thought he might never breathe again. His ears drooped as he took the stern tone of the man’s lecture as a scolding, but was surprised to see him break into a smile right after. He wasn’t in trouble after all? Roulette stared up at Slay, aqua eyes void of any sign of comprehension. He knew he was being asked a question, he even understood the meaning of it. However, that didn’t mean he was going to answer. He didn’t even offer a shake of his head.
schwarzIt was beyond the pup to grasp the fact that the man had probably just saved his life. It was also beyond him to grasp the fact that Slay and Cercelee had really no responsibility for him and his siblings other than what they bestowed upon themselves. While in time he would understand the gratitude he owed this man and mate, right now he was just a boy who wanted to be reunited with his mother. Slay definitely wasn’t his mother, and for that, Roulette resented him.
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Slaying the Dreamer
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His white-tipped ears drooped as Roulette's aquamarine eyes remained blank, no light of recognition behind them. So, he had no idea what Slay just said. Sighing heavily, the male tried to think of simpler words with which to explain. Eventually the de Sadiras would have to master English, because there were precious few wolves in the area that spoke any foreign languages, let alone their specific dialect. The one wolf he had heard speaking what sounded like German had been Svara's mother, Sabeen Thames -- and there was no way he was letting any children near that crazy witch.
"Ocean, that's the ocean, the sea," he said slowly, motioning with his muzzle towards the gentle waves. Hopefully some of his phrases would be similar enough for him to recognize, as Catharsis had a habit of doing. She was the most vocal in her efforts to comprehend their tongue. "Be careful, it's dangerous. You have to swim. Um... Paddle, not sink... Dangerous," he finished, shaking his head at the water. That should be basic enough, right? No ocean until you could swim? "Come, follow me." He stood and padded aways on the sandy shore, scouting for something that would help them. "Come" was something they had used before; Roulette knew that one for sure. Cercelee had been very devoted to teaching them English, so that by the time the children were old enough to have rank in the pack, they could be fluent. Slay wasn't much of a teacher, but his heart was in the right place. "A rock pool! Come here, Roulette, check it out!"
Slay rested his white front paws on the rocky edge, his nose touching the surface of the puppy-sized pool. There were small plants in the bottom of the tidepool, but no fish or crabs in this one, luckily. It would be a safe environment for the boy to play in - after all, the water here was barely deeper than the boy's shoulders. He could splash and paddle in a circle without fear of drowning. Wasn't that clever of him? Slay smiled again, letting his ebony-daubed tail wave damply behind him. This should be fun, even if they had such a language barrier between them. He could see that Roulette was hurting, perhaps more than his more vocal siblings. He needed something to take his mind off it, at the very least.
I've got soul but I'm not a soldier
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schwarzWarily the pup followed behind Slayer, tail still drooping behind him. He didn’t want to stay here any longer. He wanted to go back to the church and find his sister; maybe lay in the sun all day and dry up so he could forget water ever existed. Except now that he thought about it, he was thirsty. The salty water that had filled his mouth without his permission moments before had left his tongue dry. That’s why his little tail perked up and began to wag, if only a little, when the older male called him over to the tide pool. Surely the man knew he was thirsty and was giving him somewhere to drink!
schwarzLeaning down to lap up the water, it took him a moment to realize that this tasted just the same as the water from the ocean. Making a face and spitting, Roulette sat at the edge of the tide pool, licking at his fur to try to get the taste from his mouth… except his fur was damp with the water from when he fell off the dock. Surely licking sand wouldn’t be much better. The pup was at a loss. Was all water going to taste like this from now on? Was he doomed to have this yucky taste in his mouth forever? A small whimper emitted from the back of his throat at the thought.
schwarzIf he wasn’t supposed to drink the water, he wasn’t sure what good the tide pool was to him. Surely the older male didn’t think he wanted to go in it. His experience moments before was enough to last Roulette a lifetime. Or so he thought. Being submerged in water was probably going to be put on his list of least favorite things to do. Looking into the water, he still saw the pup staring back at him, but the image was faded. He could see the plants and the bottom of the pool. He couldn’t see the bottom when leaning off the side of the dock. What did this mean?
schwarz “You tricked me!” He yelled in German at the image of himself in the water. He suddenly had realized the “other pup” he saw in the pool was the reason he had fallen into the ocean in the first place.
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Slaying the Dreamer
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Slay watched proudly as Roulette perked up, dashing towards the rockpool. He had done something right! The dejected little wolf even wagged his tail as he excitedly leaned towards the water... and proceeded to drink out of it. Sighing with disappointment, Slay nudged him aside, ice-pale eyes apologetic. "You shouldn't drink that stuff, little mate, it'll give you a tummy-ache. Plus, it just tastes nasty..." His deep voice rumbled in his broad chest as he poked the water with his paw, causing rippling waves to echo over the surface. Roulette sat on the rocks, spitting the saltwater from his mouth and trying to clean it from his dripping fur.
Momentarily abandoning the shallow pool, Slay moved to help the boy dry off a bit, after he heard the crestfallen whimper. Slay was a big softy when it came to kids, and did not hesitate to sacrifice the taste in his own mouth in order to lick Roulette's sodden pelt. "You're only going to get wet again in a minute," Slay mumbled around a mouthful of salty fur, "but I don't want you to be uncomfortable beforehand, so... Is that good?" He drew back to inspect his handiwork. He had no mother's touch, but he had at least helped dry the worst of it. Now Roulette looked less like a drowned rat, and more like a fluffy pup with cowlicks.
Realizing he was hovering like a mother hen, Slay drew back a few paces, letting Roulette approach the small pool again on his own terms. The boy seemed attracted to something in the water, before he shouted something in his native tongue. Was he angry at the water for having scared him? Slay let his head tilt curiously, and padded across the sand to try again. "Don't be afraid, Roulette. This pool isn't as deep as the ocean. You're safe." He tried to smile again, helpless before their language barrier. He knew the word "safe", didn't he? And "good", and other little basic terms that they tried to use around the church. Having no inkling of German, it was difficult to choose the closest words to the ones they knew...
I've got soul but I'm not a soldier
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schwarzRoulette was perplexed as he watched the ripples in the water caused by the older male’s paw. He dipped his own little foot in and started his own chain of swells in the water, smaller ripples branching off from the water droplets dripping from his limb. It didn’t take much for his worry of the water to take the backburner with his newfound interest in what this water could do. He had played in shallow streams before with his brother and sisters but, with the taste and the scary sensation that came with falling into the ocean, this water he categorized as something different. Somehow he didn’t think it could be fun like splashing around in a stream.
schwarzA stream was steadily moving water. The ocean moved as well, the waves lapping at the beach had amused him for a while but now he was wary of them. However, this tide pool was quiet and still. He could see the sand beneath the surface… like he could see the bottom of the streams he had played in before. All three of these types of water had similarities and differences, the only thing they all seemed to have in common was that they were wet! Maybe this pool could be fun despite tasting yucky.
schwarzWith confirmation from the man that the pool was safe, Roulette dipped his paw in the water again, this time allowing it go deep enough to touch the bottom. Surprise was apparent on his face when his foot hit a solid surface, despite having seen it there himself. Tentatively, almost as if testing the surface, not sure if he should trust it yet, he stepped in with his other front leg. Satisfied now that the bottom of the pool wasn’t going to jump out from beneath him, the pup unceremoniously dumped his lower half into the pool with a loud splash.
schwarzThat definitely wasn’t the only splash that Slayer would have to put up with. Roulette suddenly made it his existence to make the biggest splashes he could in the small pool. Barking and giggling as he played in the salty water that he was so wary of moments before, he looked like a whole new pup.
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Slaying the Dreamer
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Slay watched with interest as the introverted boy studied the pool, touched the surface, seemed to calculate its depths in his mind. Roulette seemed like he would be a very intelligent wolf when he grew up - the kind that looked before he leapt, weighed his options, that sort of deliberation that Slay had always lacked. What Slay could offer him, though, was a chance to release -- to stop over-thinking his world and have a little fun, act like a kid again. The arctic wolf cheered aloud as Roulette splashed into the pool for the first time.
"Yeah, that's it!" the big male crowed, a sloppy grin pasted from ear to ear.
"You're not afraid of swimming. You're doing great!" Saltwater doused him in the face as Roulette thrashed playfully in the shallow pool. Slay laughed with him as it dripped from his ebony-daubed muzzle, spattering against his paws. He was still wet from his impromptu rescue earlier; what did a little more matter? He let his pale eyes scan the lonely shore, looking for something to add to their makeshift game. A toy of sorts, maybe a stick of driftwood... Ah! The arctic wolf moved fluidly across the sand, scooping up a mess of beached kelp in his jaws. It tasted of salt and fish. He trotted back to the rocky outcrop, dumping his rubbery vegetation in front of Roulette. It was another piece of the ocean - would the boy be interested in it? Within its tangled center there might be empty shark eggs, a hollow crab's shell, a flaccid jellyfish... the possibilities were endless! Or they could play tug-of-war with the ropy seaweed itself. Slay let his tail wag amiably behind him, hopefulness shining in his open expression.
I've got soul but I'm not a soldier
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