Welcome to Gaia! ::

For once, Squall was re-marking the clan borders out of duty and not for the solitude the task entailed. More often as not, this was where he'd run off to when everything started to turn dark and even little things made him snarl, but today he was here just because the task needed to get done, scratching out the paradoxical circle and cross under the tidewalkers symbol.

It was then that he heard movement behind him, his head turning sharply towards the source of the sound. His eyes narrowed and caught site of shifting cream through the brush, and then the doe stood before him, a creature he had never seen before tailing loyally behind her. His brow furrowed slightly, wondering what had brought her down to the less hospitable south.

"What are you doing here?" He was never one to beat around the bush after all. His words were gruff as ever but not unkindly.

The doe contemplated his question, and for a moment he read annoyance in her eyes. It would hardly be the first time his brusque manner had irritated someone, and certainly not the last, however her next words betrayed no offense. For a moment her search puzzled him, for the salt in the air was as natural as the ocean from whence it came-- sometimes he forgot not every kin was born and raised on the beach-- but before he could say anything she suddenly stepped forward, almost cheek-to-cheek with him, sniffing at his hair perhaps, he couldn't be sure. If it was the ocean she was seeking, its scent would certainly be on him, he had gone for a swim just a few hours prior and the salt perpetually crusted his hair and fur.

"Close, but not quite," he said in good humor, not having moved an inch, but the lean lines of his body were relaxed - he was unperturbed by her behavior. The one blue eye that could see her looked more intrigued than anything else, by this doe and her quest for a smell. Her own smell was tinged with the warmer wetter climes of the swamp's heart, where there was soil instead of sand beneath the hooves and more green than blue. She wasn't from the southern reaches, that was clear. He shifted so he could turn to fix both eyes on her without bumping her snout with his. "You seek the ocean, its not far from here."

"I have no use for such things," he replied simply, never one to soften his words with niceties. She would have to read his tone, ever gruff but gentled slightly by appreciation, to realize that his words were not derisive but approving. It was good of her to offer something in exchange, and he flashed her a smile. The expression, surprisingly, came easily to his harsh features.

"No payment is necessary, I will take you there," he glanced at his work- it was satisfactorily completed and like as not he'd be back soon anyways to renew them with harsher lines- then turned in place, bringing them almost shoulder to shoulder. The closeness was unavoidably a touch intimate, but its purpose was more protective, a subtle indication that he would not just lead her to the shore, he would take care of her as well. "The ocean is beautiful, something every kin should see at least once," he said as he led her forwards. The ocean was one of the few topics on which he would be free with his words.

"The ocean..." the words were said with a slow, almost reverence as he led her through the thinning mangrove stands, "There is blue water, as far as the eye can see, salty to the taste. Far out it is dark and still; near shore waves of water with white crests crash against the beach. They sound like whispers, only loud..." He pauses, ears flicking upward. "Listen closely, and you can hear it now."

Her words make him laugh. It is a surprising sound coming from him and warmer than one would expect, brief, but mirthful. "You are not wrong in that," he agrees with a half smile as he starts forward again. He has known much of the sea's anger in his lifetime, indeed he harbors a certain amount of it within himself. But it does not always surface, and indeed sometimes he could forget it was even there -- those were the most dangerous of times.

"There is anger in it, but there is a gentleness to it as well. So long as you respect the ocean, you need not fear it."

They are nearer now, by the doe's next words they may well be passing beneath the branches of the last mangroves and onto the shore itself.

There was another laugh in his eyes as the doe stopped dead in her tracks, transfixed by the ocean. It had that affect on the uninitiated. To him, the salt-laden air and spray embraced him like an old friend, and he took the moment to close his eyes, let the wind ripple through his hair.

Then he stepped forwards, giving her a look that simply said 'come', and broke into a light gallop, closing the distance to the water and plunging into the surf.

She ventured closer but hesitated at the shore, and for a moment he thought she would not come in. Then she caught his eye and whooped, and he turned his head lest he get splashed right in the eye. Laughing, he made his way toward her with practiced ease, pressing his muzzle to her flank to steady her.

"It's really something, isn't it?" he smiles, a statement more than a question. He is clearly at home here, with the surf breaking around his knees and sending spray up his flanks, salt crusting in his tail. It is as if the water completes him. He turns to her and introduces himself.

"I am Squall," he catches a stray lock of golden hair with his nose, tucking it behind her ear. "And you are?"