[PRP] Stormy Seas

[Lutz]

Living near the sea was nice. There were less kin that lived in this area, giving Hundred Year Slumber the peace she craved. It wasn't that she disliked being around other kin, it was more like she had a low threshold for large groups and those that didn't know when to be quiet. One on one interactions could be nice. She wasn't a complete hermit.

The downside of living near the sea was the weather. It was never too hot due to the breeze, but a beautiful day could turn tumultuous in the blink of an eye. Today was one of those days. Slumber had been out on a walk on the shore, enjoying the breeze and the salty smell, but when she turned around to head back towards her den, she realized she'd completely missed dark, ominous clouds building up behind her. She knew she wasn't going to get back home before the wind intensified and the rain came, so she set her sights for a cave not far from where she was.

By the time she reached the mouth of the shallow scooped-out space it was starting to drizzle. Slumber didn't mind getting wet, but she'd rather not walk in the driving rain and wind. She could wait it out here. Inspecting the cave, she found it was deep enough to hold three or four kin if they squished in. It was perfect for her to stretch out on the sandy ground, her gaze towards the sea that was slowly starting to churn, waves getting higher and more frequent as the storm rolled in.

[Beejoux]

Dark clouds had hung in the sky like an omen for most of the afternoon, though distantly. A worry for later, or so Lost to the Depths had assumed initially. Now, we'll down the coast from his home and with rain starting to soak into his fur and weigh down his tail, he was realizing he'd perhaps not been reading the warning signs properly. Weather could be such a fickle thing.

He knew there was a cave nearby, he'd played there with his siblings and half siblings many times before, and that was the only real shelter along the beach for quite a distance.

And the swamp itself was full of mud and tangling branches. No thank you.

Lost made for the cave, and when he reached it, hair clinging to his neck and shoulders --water dripping from his chin and ears -- he was surprised to find he hasn't been the only one with a similar idea. He stood in the mouth of the cage head tilting thoughtfully as he looked down at the doe stretched out leisurely before him. "Sorry for the intrusion."

[Lutz]

A clap of thunder made Slumber glance up just in time to see a shape making its way towards the mouth of the cave. She narrowed her eyes for a moment, her tail flicking back and forth on the sand in irritation. This was her cave and while there was technically room for two, she really didn't feel like sharing. But as the soggy, bedraggled kimeti slogged his way into the mouth of the shelter she couldn't help but feel a bit badly for him. His tail was an absolute mess, his mane was plastered to his neck, and he looked about ready to call it quits seeing that she was occupying the space.

Fine. He could stay.

"Just keep your dripping over there," she said in return, her tone clipped but not impolite. She shifted her tail to curl around her a bit, giving him some space to come in and drip-dry as best he could. She surveyed him openly, not at all worried about keeping her eyes to herself. She wanted to know if this buck was going to be a threat to her space or not. Given how he had entered, though, Slumber wagered he was looking for a peaceful sharing of the space and wouldn't oust her once he'd dried off a bit.

"Blew in quick," she observed. As much as she didn't particularly want company, it was a relief to know others had been taken by surprise as much as she had been.

[Beejoux]

He waited, more than half expecting for her to send him on her way, and wondering if he had the energy to try to argue against that. Instead she shifted her tail, inviting him to stay, in a manner. He hesitated, just for a moment, before nodding to her request and moving further into the cave, aware that some amount of water was bound to land on her, or deep towards her, no matter how hard he tried to prevent it.

Ah well. She had to know that was a possibility, didn't she?

Her observation drew him out of his own thoughts and Lost looked out of the cave, at the churning sea and dark sky, flashing periodically with streaks of bright lightning. It was quite the storm. "It did. I barely smelled it in the air before the sky was black."

He glanced at the doe again, noting the fins, the tail. "Do you live around here?" He thought he knew everyone that belonged to the Cres.

[Lutz]

Slumber watched from her curled up pile of limbs as the stranger carefully made his way further into the cave. He did leave a little trail of wetness behind him, but it couldn't be helped. So long as he didn't shake himself all over the place she could let it slide. She was a loner by nature but she wasn't nasty when she had to share space with other kin...so long as they minded themselves. On a stormy day like today with no other shelter around, though, she could afford to be a bit more lenient.

She was glad the stranger confirmed that it had come in quickly. Usually, as he mentioned, there were signs. Changes in wind direction, temperature, the smell, even sometimes the birds would flee ahead of a terrible squall. This one, however, had come in so quickly and with the only warning signs being the dark sky quickly encroaching.

His question made her nod, her tail flicking slightly as a particularly loud thunderclap startled her. As much as she didn't care for small talk, a distraction from the storm was welcome.

"Yes, though not this area specifically. I'm further west down the beach." She was nowhere close to her normal stomping grounds, otherwise she would have risked the run home. "You?" She hadn't seen him before either, but the shoreline was quite large. And since Slumber didn't make a point to introduce herself to new kin, it was completely normal for her to not know her neighbors.