He was honestly pretty impressed that they were already considering expanding the pack outward after only just getting settled into their new spot in the north, but when they were so spoiled for choice out here as far as which land they might want to branch out into why not at least consider it? Their position in the valley of the mountains created some interesting challenges no matter which way they decided to expand, but the land on the table currently was the stretch of beach west of the mountains. He certainly wouldn't complain about having a beach secluded to just the pack again so he was all on board with the idea. He had been tasked to take a group out to the beach though and discuss the pros and cons of it so he picked a few wolves and headed out to the shore.

When they got there he started to look around at the interesting shore line of dark sand that was dusted with patches of snow. "So this is it, huh?" he mused. It looked awfully tropical with the sturdy palm trees that somehow resisted the bitter cold of the north, but it was far from the warm, pleasant beaches he would normally think of. "We'll probably want to find or clear a better path to the shore so we can get to and from here more quickly. At least it will give us a good fishing spot!"

"Ruga Amanto"

Keahi follows the tall Ruga out to the stretch of beach that the Armada is looking to claim as their own. Since they had spent time building the wall together, the red woman has felt a kinship with the Master of Arms. What they talked about that day has remained their secret but the fact that she was able to share some of her more things with felt refreshing. As her paws hit the black sand of the cove, she turns her blue eyes up to look at the palm trees that have somehow survived the harsh winter’s here. A pang of homesickness resounds in her soul and Keahi drops her gaze to look out over the water instead.

Ruga talks of clearing a pathway and the red wolf dips her head in agreement, adding, “Maybe we could lay stones or planks so if we need to get out here quickly, we will have better traction.” The sand is soft and squishy, and as Keahi shifts her weight, she feels her paws sink a little further down. With her blue eyes looking at the water’s edge, she lifts a red paw to point at the area that leads from the pack lands right to the ocean and says, “We could build an area for fishing there. Of course, it would need to high enough to avoid the high tide but we can also make a building to store traps, nets, and the like in to keep them safe from the weather.” Her paw drops back to the sand as she casts her eyes about for signs of where the high tide marks are.


"Keahi Mogotsi"

The armada would spread out and take more land to claim as their own.  Kotori agreed that it was a good plan but the brown wolf questioned his father's choice.  As they reached the beach Kotori had to agree that the water could be used for fishing but the location was colder than he cared for and he imagined it would be that way to an extent all the time, with maybe an exception for the summer.  Maybe and hopefully he was wrong about that.  Either way, he preferred their old beach.

Ruga and Keahi made good points on the fishing and Kotori nodded absently, his mind going another direction.  “There isn’t a lot of protection from bad weather out here,” the palm trees only took up so much land and he doubted they protected all that much with how most of it was a big stick with some broad leaves up high. “We’d want to build a place for a wolf that gets caught out here when a storm kicks up.”

"Kotori Fatalis"

Mortis made his way down to the beach with Ruga. He understood why the pack wanted the beach territory. Many of them had spent half or all their lives on the beach territory of Armada. Perhaps in summer, this place might thaw enough for decent swimming. It wouldn’t be anywhere near as warm as the Armada, but perhaps his own future children could learn to swim here.

As wolves began to talk of fishing, and pathways out here, Mortis considered what he would want out of a beach territory - and what his father would want, as well. Kotori also had a good point. “It might be a good place to set up training grounds. Build endurance for some of the bad weather on this spot, and the tide would wash away the blood” similar to what they had had back in the old territory, but a little rougher. He knew his father would want him to make that point. “In summer, it would be a good place to teach pups of the pack how to swim.”


"Mortis Fatalis"

Ruga nodded as Keahi suggested laying down stones or planks that could act as a path across the soft sand. That would certainly make it a little easier to cross the beach at least so they wouldn't have to fight against the shifting sand as much. "That should be a pretty quick fix," he agreed and then grinned a bit as he leaned over to her, muttering and chuckling softly, "A lot easier than building walls I bet." Keahi suggested building an area for fishing as well with storage for the supplies for it and he nodded in agreement to that as well. It led in perfectly with Kotori's suggestion of building a shelter of some kind out here just in case a storm kicked up. "Why not both?" he offered with a smirk. "A building with storage for fishing supplies and an area that's sheltered against the elements just in case. Or, I guess, if you just wanted some more substantial shade if you've been out in the sun all day fishing."

He glanced to Mortis then when the winged wolf mentioned the possibility of making this into an area for training grounds like they had in the armada and he definitely liked the idea of that. "We don't really have a training ground set up yet so that's a good idea." Mortis also touched on having a place to teach pups how to swim—something he definitely wouldn't have thought of or considered with his lack of children and his lack of desire to have them. "Ah... right, that's a good point." He looked around again, scanning up and down the beach. "Well, at least it's pretty secluded. We might want to figure out a way to block off the beach though. Maybe more walls like we have set up at either end of the valley? Or do you three think more frequent patrols would do?"

"Ruga Amanto"

Keahi talks about making a pathway and Ruga agrees before leaning in toward her to mutter and chuckle in her ears. A laugh falls from red lips as she whispers back, “Depends on who you’re building the pathway with…” Her voice trails off as she teases him, suggesting that he might get distracted if a pretty face were to help. A wink is thrown at the tall, russet wolf before they all go on to suggest more things; Kotori recommending a place for protection from bad weather and the tall, winged Mortis talks about training grounds. The tropical wolf nods along with the ideas and chuckles when Ruga suggests combining the fishing storage with a shelter. Keahi adds, “We should make it a stone structure to avoid collapsing from rotted wood.” Blue eyes turn up to catch the tall Ruga’s seafoam gaze as she asks, “Do you know anyone who can do that?”

The words are said with a straight face and serious tone but her eyes dance with mirth. Keahi turns her attention to Mortis and offers the Fatalis male a respectful dip of her red head as she says, “When the tide is out, we could stake out rings for the training areas. Since they will be submerged, I suggest making the permanent stakes out of something that won’t rot or be easily pulled out to sea. As for teaching pups to swim, it might be a good idea to develop a safety net to keep the pups from being pulled out by a strong current.” She offers Mortis a small smile as the red woman falls silent, listening with great interest to what the others have to say.


"Keahi Mogotsi"

“We can do one place for both storage and protection from nature,”Kotori nodded content with the idea.  If he had an option in this he planned to spend little time on this cold waste of ground.  Sure, beaches were nice but not this one.

Mort suggested a training ground which Kotori had mixed feelings on.   A beach to fight on did feel classic but he’d rather travel back to their original home for that.  The water would wash away the blood that came frequently enough in some spars by wolves who enjoyed not holding back so much.  Still, was it all that bad to fight it out elsewhere?  Kotori looked about the place then shrugged the idea as acceptable.  He planned to find warmer place for his own fights.  

Kotori considered the idea of walls next, lips twitching after a moment.  “Build up a wall between the beach and the surrounding area.  Let there be a guarded station to get through.  If wolves want to try and get here from swimming they will be cold and wet and at our mercy.”  Would anyone really try coming through that route?  Kotori hoped so.  Just to trap them, it would be fun and if walls were built up around other sides it would be the only option.

“I say if we net an area off, make it small enough it looks boring.  Only younger kids should need a net.  Let the older ones prove they have enough common sense to decide what’s smart and handle consequences.  The world only gives so many chances after all.”  Kotori imagined the blizzard and wolves large enough to put dad’s own size to shame which had come when he was still a young child.  He imagined the year after with the night that never ended and all its threats.  What would be next?  Grow up strong and smart or you’d only make it so far.  Any child born in this pack should pick up common sense fast enough, plenty of opportunities were given.

"Kotori Fatalis"

He listened as the other wolves proposed ideas for buildings. They would be slow going, but if enough wolves chipped in they could manage it. Mortis considered the seasons, and knew it would be wise for the pack to finish the work in the main territory, and give a chance to summer to come around before they spent a lot of time working in this harsher beach.

There were definitely a lot of good ideas coming up, and Mortis listened carefully to them. “Stakes would be good. We could utilise the ones we had back in the Armada. My pack-rat father didn’t leave them behind, even though we hadn’t expected to be moving to a beach.” he gave a soft chuckle. “How would you go about setting down a net? It would have to be pretty far out, wouldn’t it? And would it block the fish?” He asked, looking at Keahi.


"Mortis Fatalis"

Keahi's comments only pulled his mind further away from what he was actually supposed to be focusing on, easily distracted by the amusement in her gaze and the teasing jabs at how easily distracted by a pretty lady he was. When she mentioned the idea of building the proposed structure out of stone his sea foam gaze found hers and a slight smirk tugged at his lips despite his best efforts to keep a serious, business-like demeanor. "Hmmm... I might know just the guy," he replied when she asked if he knew anyone that could do that, giving her a quick wink.

Turning his attention back to the group as more suggestions for staking out training areas, building safety nets for pups, walls with guard stations, and some pretty hard views on some of those things from Sirius' younger son. Ruga gave him a glance and smirked slightly, but didn't comment, instead turning his focus back to Mortis as the winged wolf questioned some things about the net they had proposed. Getting it set, blocking fish... Things dealing with the water were certainly not his strong suit, but luckily they had someone with them that was very familiar. He shifted his gaze back to Keahi, interested to see what the sea faring wolf had to say.

"Ruga Amanto"

Keahi’s eyes dance with joy as it becomes apparent that she is distracting the tall Master of Arms. Gently she bumps against his leg while chuckling at his reply. Standing tall, she reaches her nose up toward him, whispering low so only he can hear, “I might know just the girl to help too.” As she pulls away, she tosses him a cheerful, playful wink before turning her attention to Kotori and the winged Mortis. Kotori mentions building walls on either end of the beach and the red woman hums thoughtful before nodding her agreement to the idea, saying, “Great idea, Kotori. It will also help to lessen the harsh winds here.” She offers the prince a respectful bow of her head before turning her blue eyes out to the water.

Mortis speaks of Sirius keeping the stakes from where the pack lived before and Keahi chuckles softly to herself. Turning her head, she looks right and left along the beach as the red wolf once again hums softly to herself while she thinks. Once again, she speaks up again, suggesting “What if we split the beach up? One side for training and one side for fishing and swimming? On the training side, along with the sparring rings, what if we also built an obstacle course? Maybe… make it with different levels so, depending on what height the tide is at, the course will be different.” She falls silent for a moment, trying to think of a way to make that work. Hopefully, Ruga can figure that out.

After a few moments, Keahi turns her gaze to look up to Mortis, as she says, “As for the net; we should have one specially made, with smaller loops so there is less chance of a small pup slipping through. Kotori is correct…” she looks to the earthen-hued prince while saying “Only the really young pups should need the net.” She offers Kotori a small smile before looking back to the winged wolf and saying, “Because of that, I suggest finding a safe stretch of water at low tide. Once the area is selected, it will be easy to set up the net.”

Looking at the gathered wolves, Keahi explains, “We weave the net around some stakes and go to the designated area at low tide. A couple of strong, tall diggers should be able to plant the stakes underwater without too much swimming. The trick will be to get the stakes deep enough so that they won’t be pulled out by strong tides.” Eyes once more slide over to look out over the lapping water as Keahi muses, “The net would only need to stick a couple of feet up over the water line and, as the tide comes in, it will be completely covered with water. This will allow fish to move freely around the net when the tide is high, and a few get caught in with the pups… well, it is good opportunity to teach them how to catch fish.”

Keahi finishes speaking and turns her gaze to look at the others, ears perking to see what they think of her ideas and to listen to what they have to say.


"Keahi Mogotsi"

Maybe Ophie would be good for some of this work.  If it meant getting wet she could get cleaned up some and maybe a bit of hard work could help her lose some of that fat.  Newer wolves could be chosen for these jobs also to see how they handled dealing with the jobs.  Keahi could help, not to test her but she simply seemed to have knowledge of what was being done.

The horned wolf felt the laziest wolves or those who had proven themselves less should be the ones out here working the hardest.  Unfortunately, that probably wouldn’t be enough to fill all the jobs needed so others of some talent would also need to be out.  Kotori wouldn’t want to wish this stretch of beach on anyone in this weather.

“This water is extremely cold right now, hopefully, better when spring gets here.  Whenever any of the wolves has to go into the water for any length of time there should be a large fire going so that they can warm themselves up, some furs set out also.  We don’t want anyone getting sick from something so easy to avoid.  Anything that means being in the water overly long could wait till spring.  There is no reason for instance pups need to learn to swim yet.” Part of that was just his personal distaste for the cold here but Kotori felt there were also good points.  There was a point at which cold got to be too cold and their coat offered far less protection when thoroughly drenched in the salt water.  It’s not like the beach was going anywhere.

"Kotori Fatalis"

Mortis chuckled softly at her description of the net, and the chance to catch fish. He inclined his head to her in agreement, and kept silent. The pack had had some good ideas, and it would be interesting to see what the pack and his father did with the territory. Mortis himself might be entertaining some ideas of a warm summers day and lying out on the dark sand with his lover.

He turned to Kotori when he mentioned a fire, and a grin split the boy's face. ‘A large beach bonfire might be good” he agreed readily. He had a feeling much of the pack would enjoy that.


"Mortis Fatalis"