all this fog has got me trippin'

 @Dreadnought— a pleasure

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The sun had begun to set when Jun had made his way out of the riptides of the ocean and through the forests. After taking such a plunge, he was a tad sea-sick from all the aquatic activities he's taken part in. 

Where he found himself, he knew not. The fog that gathered at his feet was thick enough to cut with a branch, and it was easy enough for him to be lost in such a mess. Yet, a beautiful mess at that. 

He was never well acquainted with fog, or how to navigate it. After falling through the forest of pines, he found himself here at the bay. The only guidance he had was the smell of the ocean, which he followed. His paws sunk into the sand as he did so, a satisfying chirp coming from him as his paws got a chance to relax. 

Jun felt the most comfortable at the beaches, and being able to see the sun fall beneath the ocean was a pleasantry all on it's own that he did not wish to deny. He was left here, to think not of his home, but a new one. Had he made the right choice? He knew not yet, but in his gut when he took the plunge, there was not an ounce of denial. 

Not a single moment did he have a doubt.

Jun was a creature of sureness, not of insecurity.

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 The end of her evening patrol spat her out in the belly of Behmoth's Brim. A sooty stain against the sodden sand, Dreadnought edged towards the water, letting the ebbing waves wash over her paws. 

 She stayed near the edge, hopping onto a flat plane of rocks that housed a plethora of tidal pools - minute universes of kaleidoscopic color and life.

 Looking down, she saw a crab hunkered in an algae-crusted nook. As she studied the crustacean, a flicker of movement came into her peripheral vision.

 The storm dragon lifted her head.

 “Care to try your luck?” She called out, nodding to the pool beside her.  

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Jun had sat himself in the sands, staring out into the ocean when he heard the voice of another call out behind him. His head whipped over his shoulder, eyes widening as they traveled to the rocks beside him.

"Pardon?" He called back out, deciding to follow where the voice came from. As he came into closer perspective to the rocks, a maiden sat upon them, her coat of a muted browns and greys. Her scent sparked of Dragonford nature, so he had no reason to panic. 

Jun wanted to test his luck, so he jumped up on the rocks beside her, coming to her side if she let him. She was a part of the Ford after all, weren't they supposed to be close? He noticed then that they were surrounded by tidal pools. 

"Jun." He dipped his head out of respect, dropping shoulders simultaneously. "To who do I owe the pleasure to?"" He turned his head curiously, wondering what they called her. 

A string of curiosity burned through him; was that a crab?

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 He smelled like a dragon, though she had not met him before.

 His pelt was the sea itself, a mottled swirl of blue and creams and grays. Dreadnought regarded him, ears erect and eyes interested. 

 “I am Dreadnought.” The storm dragon replied. The charcoal she-wolf looked down to eye the crab once more. Then, with brutal speed, her paw speared the surface of the pool, cupping the underside of the crab and flipping it out onto the rocks beside them. 

 “Have you been part of the ford long?”

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Dreadnought. What a peculiar name. The woman seemed to harness an energy that was estudious compared to his. She was almost his size, and her eyes were a dark brown that almost glowed every time he looked into them.

He would watch as she expertly dove in between the crevice of the rock, a crab following her on the way out. His eyes widened with amusement, a soft laugh following. "Is there a trick to that?" He would ask curiously to the new maiden he met, wondering the best way to grab a vicious creature.

Jun rather enjoyed crab, but he never learned how to manage one on his own. He always got pinched. 

Crazy, he would wonder why.

"No, not nearly long at all. However, I find myself making it a home." With his paw, he would nudge the crab closer to them as it tried to escape. He would narrowly dodge the pincers, deathly afraid of getting nipped. "Have you?" A follow-up question.

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 “A few weeks more than a moon.” She answered, keeping watching over the scuttling crab. It waved its pincers in the air in a great show of its defenses, scooting sideways towards the edge of the craggy rock. Jun pushed him back with a fastidious level of care. 

 “As for this...” She continued, casting her gaze back down. She hovered her paw close to the furious crustacean, biting her tongue when the fat claw latched onto her foot.

 Distracted and stuck in place, she bore down and snatched the creature in her jaws, crunching hard and caving in its shell. There were likely more delicate ways of dispatching such a creature, but Dreadnought was not a woman made for finesse and finery. “The trick is not to mind the pain.”

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With the display of the crab latching onto Dreadnought's paw, Jun's ears would flatten to his head out of mere concern. The crab was split open, shell cracked, pincers going lifeless. He would turn his head to the side, observing. 

Jun would turn back, his nose traveling to her paw where the crab snatched it, nudging it lightly if she let him. "Does it hurt?" His face was still close to her foot, looking at it. "I didn't think these menaces would be worth such a trouble. I guess I was wrong." He would shrug.

That crab better be good. Jun would stand, looking at it in it's crush form. He'd use his teeth to peel back the shell, spitting out the remains over the jeti. The main course was served in a makeshift bowl- or what was left in the crab- and he'd scootch it over to Dreadnought's feet.

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 “Yes.” She replied simply. “But if you avoid things out of fear, you won't get far.” 

 Allowing him to look at her paw, she brought it back down, her face placid as she put weight on the throbbing foot. Dipping her head, she indulged, taking a large bite of the succulent meat. 

 She would not share, refusing to give him a prize he had not earned. But she'd teach him, if he was so inclined. “Would you like to try for one? The pools are plentiful.”

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Jun turned his head to the side, contemplating the words Dreadnought spoke. She was very wise in her approach, as he only assumed she was older than he. The man decided to take that mantra with him.

At her proposed question, he nodded beginning to stand. He would march over to the nooks and crannies of the tide pools, seeing nothing. He wasn't deterred yet, and kept looking. All he saw was algae, yet what if he moved it? In one particular crevice, he did. He swiped away the algae to reveal a blue shelled crab with a gnarly pincer. 

A bright smile appeared on his face, open mouthed with his tongue out. "So I just.. reach in and grab it?" He would ask before getting a toe cut off.

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 She winced pre-emptively at his suggestion. “Be quick, try to get under the crab and flip him up and out of the water. It's best if they land on their back so they don't scuttle away.”

 Shuffling towards the pool he'd gravitated towards, Dreadnought eyed the blue crab herself, already brandishing its claw in silent challenge. “Go on then.”

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Jun would listen to Dreadnought intently, watching as her lips moved and her body language followed. Okay, hopefully, it was easier done than said. 

Jun would turn his attention back to the blue-moon crab that stared at him with unknowing eyes. He looked at it. It looked at him. He looked at it. Deep breath in, deep breath out. He got this. He can do it. With a fast motion, he'd dip his paw into the crevice, handling the crab beneath its belly. Hoisting up with fast speed, he'd angle his paw and twist. 

The crustacean flipped onto his backside, unable to right itself and Jun would look to Dreadnought like a proud puppy. Eyes widened and tongue lolling out of his mouth, he went for the kill, biting the crab on its soft undershell. The guts spilled over the palette of his mouth and he began to suck up the remains. 

"Thank you, Dreadnought. I had my doubts."

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 “Well done.” She replied. Her praise was as rare as a cerulean moon, but he had executed the tricky technique after one display. 

 Sitting down with him, she looked out towards the water, letting him enjoy his feast.

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