Moonspear she was young and all she had was the city

She drifted in from the coast, seemingly carried on the breeze and bearing nothing with her except her bare bones and the scent of lingering saltwater. This was soon to be replaced by the resplendent aroma of the winter wilds, and she found herself glad to be rid of the ocean's mightily cold companionship. The sea had been useful for a time, providing no shortage of fish, but the chill she was left with after every dive was enough to make one prefer to be hungry. The pallid wolf made a quick trot south, traveling overnight across a sandy plateau and through a moonlit wood as she traveled inland. Her aim seemed to be for the distant range of peaks; a comforting view of something she was used to.

Though spring was not too far ahead, this was no peak season to be alone. Her last pack had been intolerable (or maybe they wouldn't tolerate her, but no one besides her could know the unbiased truth), so she had simply left. It hadn't been a mountain anyway, and Ness didn't think she could ever truly be happy on level ground.

Her arrival on the borders of Moonspear (entirely by accident, mind you) made this her third pack since summer, and while the she-wolf was not a particularly fickle creature, she would not tolerate being uncomfortable. Ness inspected their borders as she began to slowly move perpendicular to it. Their scents were strong and many of them. This could be a good or bad sign depending on the nature of the wolves that resided here. But her curiousness bested her, and the yearling found herself waiting until a decent hour to call for an audience with the pack of this spire. When the sun had risen to her liking, Ness crooned and howled pleasantly into the crisp morning air.

On one of his patrols of his magnificent mountain's borders, Charon noticed someone in the distance. He wondered if it was yet another that wished to join him upon the tallest, most magnificent mountain of the Wilds; they had been full for some time, and therefore his standards were sky high, so whenever someone'd leave only the best would be allowed back in (unless they were friends or family, of course). As he approached closer and closer, Charon realised that she looked a lot like him — her coat and speckles were browner and warmer than this, and her freckles seemed more meticulously placed, as though someone'd paid great detail to put them in the right places. But other than that, she was probably the most like-him-looking wolf he'd met.

He approached with his head arched, befitting of a monarch of his status, his Alpha status written on his body. As he got closer he noticed her striking eyes, very different from his. With a charming smile the young Alpha approached, and he awaited what she had to say and how she would carry herself in the presence of such a great King, curious what her business was here.

She felt him several moments before the stark, loping wolf crested a mountain dune and came proudly forward in full view of the displaced loner. His bearing brought her into a crouch, her ears pulling back as she regarded the ground with submissive intensity. Though a wily and roguish creature at heart, Ness was no stranger to the instinct to submit. Despite his ornately regal stance, it was his scent that really described who this wolf was. Entwined more strongly among the multitude of scents lassoing this territory was his undeniable aroma. The power of him was palpable here— his home turf. His domain. His kingdom.

When she dared look up, it was to notice the scars upon a spotted white coat so similar to her own that it if were not for his distinctly broad, virile shoulders, she might've briefly thought she was looking at a reflection of herself. His eyes too, were different— darker (though she didn't give herself enough time to discern what color they were, her glance was so brief). The male young male didn't need to speak in order for her to know what he wanted. Her business here, of course. "I'm searching for a place to call home. This mountain— your mountain, called to me." She didn't feel the need to explain this. Any wolf born for the ranges knew this feeling well.

She remained crouched, balancing pertly on four steady paws sitting close to one another in a square. She didn't look up, but wasn't shy on speaking. Her voice was certain, respectfully unafraid. "I can pull my own weight, plus some if I need to, and I'm loyal to survival. I figure my best chances for that are with a well-fitted pack like this, so whatever prereq's you got, throw 'em at me. I'm here to call your pack my own."

The proper respect was given to him before he arrived, causing a confident smile to slip across his face. Charon had had his fair share of disrespectful wolves of late, but it was when he was surrounded by those that respected his given authority that he felt at home. And so it did not take much for him to be flattered and to instantly take a liking to the young female at his borders. The fact that she looked like a warmer-toned version of himself helped.

When she admitted that Moonspear had called to her, he knew that she was a fit for the pack. A miracle would need to happen for him to lose his liking for the woman that came with respect, a beautiful pelt and a liking to his mountain and kingdom to top it off. It was why he had chosen this mountain, because it called to him.

And because it was the biggest.

Her determination only further charmed Charon, and it did not take long for him to be completely convinced that she was a fit for the pack. Most would test their recruits or ask them about their strengths and flaws, but Charon went with feeling. He liked wolves that could pull their own weight, he liked wolves that were authentic — unique, characteristic but with a good dose of common sense and respect. While his regal posture remained and he did not instantly pull her into his pack, his enthusiasm for his latest recruit grew on the inside. This was much better stuff than Dhole's latest scrappy antisocial weirdo of the month, and to top it off, it was his find.

A smile that he could not hide twitched at his lips as he first opened his mouth to speak. "One of my prereq's might be to know the name of this mysteriously well-coloured survivor wolf. I'm Charon, and my mountain is called Moonspear." Rank was unnecesary, he knew, for it was clear she already knew his. The only thing he did not like was that she was loyal to survival, but what could he expect? It was still better to have a well adjusted recruit that wanted survival and understood his pack's supremacy and how instincts worked than a loyal-to-the-wolf antisocial derp. And anyway, if he'd prove it was worth it, maybe she would stick around.

Charon. Moonspear. Names she concisely committed to memory. He'd made a comment about her pelt, and though the curve of her muzzle was hidden in its dip, she found herself smiling. The wolf was a vain creature, one who knew his uniqueness and wasn't afraid to point it out in others. Ness felt the same way. She had never considered her blemished fur anything but exquisite, and to meet her male counterpart was slightly more than just interesting. The difference between their spots was like seeing the color change of the earth from night to day or the hue differences between winter stone and summer rock. Her body had visibly relaxed, but Ness did not yet relieve herself of the hunched bow she had placed herself in.

"Baroness Ananke," she introduced formally, reminiscent of a society much older than either of them. "But I prefer to be called Ness," she followed up quickly. "I rarely give my whole name, but this is just one of those times I think it's necessary." A small movement through her shoulders suggested she was shrugging, though it was difficult to do in her position. "Still, when you introduce me to your pack," a sly, daring pause and another unseen smile: "I meant if you introduce me to your pack, I'd prefer you not tell them my full name. It's a pretty embarrassing and pretentious name. But hey— they say mother knows best."

Besides, those who didn't respect the names given to them by their parents were selfish washouts.

Charon smiled as she introduced herself with her full name, a fancy sort of name. He liked that she would give him something that she kept from others. That she kept from others so much that she wished even for him not to tell anyone else. "It will be our little secret," said Charon, a playful grin on his face. "When I introduce you to my pack." He took a step backwards then, and turned towards his kingdom without a word.

The implications of his words seemed clear enough to Charon, and so he started to cross the borders. He stopped to look over his shoulders in silent invitation, and would continue to guide Ness further into the territory once she would join by his side as Moonspear's latest member.

Ness' tail wagged fully, sweeping dirt and frost up into small clouds as Charon confirmed her invitation into Moonspear. She saw him step backward, and finally the teenager picked herself off the ground, standing loosely on long legs before following in a cool lope after the similarly freckled Alpha. She observed him more fully now, her bi-colored eyes scanning the slope of his back and the length of his scarring.

"So, do you think we're related or something? I think you're much too good-looking not to be," she asked casually, giving a light sniff at the area just behind his shoulder. "Nah," she affirmed for herself, revealing an exceptional nose; "my blood's got a little more spice than yours." A jester's smirk flitted across her muzzle, and she glided beside him, eager to see the most of her new home. 

I'm gonna leave this open in a way that we can have them chat more as they go, or it can be archived here :) I'll let you pick.

It was a good question whether or not the pair of them were related. Oddly, it wasn't one that had popped up in Charon's mind just yet, but now that it did, he was eager to find out. He was a bit weirded out when Ness smelled his shoulder or whatever, but soon realised by her comment that she was only doing it to... Well, he guessed as part of her joke, because he couldn't imagine that she could actually smell anyone's bloodlines. Right? Maybe she was using it as an excuse to be close to him, he thought smugly to himself, finding himself quite the charming dude. The affirmation that Amekaze liked him too only made him feel double the casanova, even though of course he'd stick to Ame. She was the cream of the crop. Shit, he had to like her a whole lot, Charon thought to himself, that he thought of Ame even as some other girl was pretty much hitting on him.

Anyway — he hadn't ruled out yet that they weren't family, and so Charon's curiosity was flared. "My last name's Ostrega, and my parents were called Julooke and Verrine. Any of that ring a bell to you?" Unfortunately he knew very little of his parents, what with them dying when he was young. It'd be kind of cool if he and Ness were related, and it would explain why they hit it off right off the bat. It would make the whole pretending-to-sniff-your-bloodline-just-so-I-can-touch-you thing a bit weird if she was family, though, but whatever. He had Amekaze, anyway, so it was all innocent fun.

we can keep it going for a while, if you don't mind! :) but feel free to post elsewhere etc, since Ness is accepted now. :D

Ness, not a deliberate flirt by any means, was quite genuine by all she said and regarded things not spoken literally as a waste of time. And she could, in fact tell when wolves were related, though she also assumed this was in the scope of all noses and not just her own. She shrugged at the names he rattled off. "Nope, no bells... We couldn't be related anyway. As far as I know, my family was a bunch of purists. Ananke's through and through for generations." The statement seemed in itself to be of a proud context, like a frequently spoken phrase, but the tone she used was decidedly mocking. "I'm probably an inbred, or something. I try not to think about it too hard," she smiled at him. There was nothing very obviously wrong with her, except perhaps her sense of humor. 

"If we are related though, you'd probably be like, my.. brother-cousin. Or would it be 'my cousin-brother'?"

It was a weird thought that wolves would be so very purist about breeding. Charon had always thought that mating was based on love and that it wasn't a thing you did because you wanted, well, pretty pups or whatever other reasons there might've been. Charon looked like he thought it questionable when she explained, to mirror how he felt.

"That's weird," he said, but his voice was casual and not like he intended to explore the topic further. "My parents got together for love, so probably not related then." He grinned a little, and wondered aloud while they walked through the forest area at Moonspear's lower slopes: "So if your family's so purist, does everyone in your family look like you?" For Charon, none of his family looked like him, even his biological ones. Well, his mother was white, he vaguely remembered, but that was about it.

"No," she answered hastily, as if such a thing was improbable. But then she realized that he obviously wouldn't know this, so she laughed slightly. "I was actually one of the few who even had mostly white fur on Southpaw. You see there were two Ananke packs, formed generations ago by my six.. seven-time great-grandfathers— brothers, you see— who couldn't rule side by side, so they chose adjoining mountains on the Tundra to each rule: Northpaw and Southpaw." She glanced at Charon, to make sure he was following her story, before pressing on beside him. "And over time the packs traded members, mixed bloods, and formed our families. My great-great-whatever-Grandfather that went to Northpaw was white of fur. And though neither of my parents had white fur, my mother was from Northpaw and I guess she carried it with her and passed it on to me."

She was smiling, perhaps remembering something fondly, but then her bi-colored eyes flickered curiously back to her winter twin. "So, are you a solo king of this bitchin' rock or what?"

While Ness explained a bunch of things about her home pack, Charon just nodded and listened. "Cool," he said when she finished speaking of it. It all sounded kind of weird, but he supposed there weren't as many wolves there as there were here. That had to be why they ended up mating with each other, or whatever, and being from different packs it probably didn't even feel as incestuous as it was. Luckily his children'd have more choice.

Ness raked him from his thoughts by asking him if he ran the place by himself. Charon looked at a stream they passed along the trail they followed up through the woods, along the mountain's base, and grinned. "Nah. My partner is Amekaze, and my brother Flóki is our Beta." Even for as grand a king as himself Moonspear was a bit big to handle alone.

One scent clung more heavily to Charon than the rest. Amekaze— she guessed. Floki she would meet the following day. It seemed family here was prevalent too, his own brother being the pack's Beta, and she wondered what politics were involved to garnish such a spot, or if power was a show of force around here. Ness nodded thoughtfully. "Got it. So, two Alphas, one Beta... Why just the one? Or are you telling me that auditions are open?" Her toothy smile was innocent enough, but her eyes were foxish— ambitious. Her thoughts already fled to scoping out the competition. She would hunt for weaknesses and she would jostle for her place among the underlings. She respected Charon enough to never strive for the rank of himself or his mystery partner, but all the other ranks were flexible, right? Obtainable.

The ambition in her eyes wasn't missed, but Charon found it charming in its own way. He had been ambitious nearly his whole life, and while opportunity to rise to the rank of Beta at the age of nine months had presented itself only because Thistle'd been the only leader at the time and desperately needed help, he could still appreciate another's ambition. So long as it was not for the spot of one of the wolves in the pack that he loved, such as Amekaze or Flóki — and so long as the other wolf in question was likeable enough. Ness certainly was.

With a chuckle, Charon joked (unaware of the mateship between Flóki and Dhole as of yet): "Maybe if you'd be dating Flóki." He kept things at that, mysterious, leaving others to guess what he really meant. He liked it that way. There was a playful grin on his face however that betrayed that he wasn't opposed to having a fourth leader, should opportunity present itself -- in the form of Ness or another. Truthfully, he'd always imagined Dhole to step up, but it just didn't seem her time yet.

Ness made a low gagging noise. "Uhg," she grumbled. "You mean I have to woo and stuff? Gross." She stuck out her tongue briefly, then circled her chops thoughtfully. She could come up with ways to ascend without the dating bit. She was better than that— though she considered that this enigmatic statement could be a joke. Her eyes narrowed. "Can't just fight my way to the top of your dogpile the old fashioned way, no?" she asked, humoring. "I'll just have to show you how great I am then." She shrugged, hiking up her steps so that she was doing a band camper's march and grazing his shoulder playfully with her muzzle. "So, I get a feel for the terrain better when I'm running. Care for a race, top dog? Or've you got too much leader business to do to, that you don't have time to eat my dust?"

Charon's eyes shone with amusement and he could not suppress an amused laugh to erupt from his muzzle when Ness seriously delved into his comically-intended comment about dating his brother. She humoured him by tossing another joke back his way, and he didn't respond with more than a confident grin to show his amusement and approval of her mingle of humour and ambition.

They finally breached from the forest, giving way to the more open terrain of the mountain as they followed a path up its side. Ness invited him — nay, challenged him — to a race, and so of course he could not decline. He let out a playful woof while he quickened his pace and started to race up the broad rocky path where Dhole had once hurt her ankle rolling down after she tripped. Luckily they were headed up the mountain this time.

Ness matched her alpha in the beginning. As Charon began to trot, so did she, and then when his legs started to churn like a racehorse fresh out the gate, his summer doppelgänger streaked right along with him. Because even though he knew where he was going, and was therefore more confident in his dashing stride, Ness was no stranger to careening along slopes, and the wolf was starkly sure-footed in her own right. She might have passed him, but there was a camaraderie in running in sync, the speed taking away all her thoughts, and instinct dictating the way her body flowed back and forth alongside the flying alpha. Her feet grew comfortable to the cold ground as they winged over the terrain, darting through trees and splitting every once and again only to swerve back again where the lookalikes ran shoulder to shoulder.

Fallen logs, perched boulders, and obstacles alike did not deter their stampede. Ness felt alive with all the scents and sights blowing by her in a blur, and their bodies gave out long before their spirits did as the came skidding to a halt after a while, heaving greatly and tongues lolling from the exertion. Through the exhausted splay of her mouth, Ness was smiling.

your post was beautiful! :) we could maybe fade here? unless you/Ness has more to say/do/etc. ^^

The race soon turned into more of a game of chase, where they would run, fall back, catch up and allow the other to do the same. Charon enjoyed it, for it wasn't often these days that he got to do things like this. It was good training, he reckoned, but above all it was good fun. Eventually they both grew tired and it was time to stop the race. Charon's chest heaved with rapid breaths as his tongue lolled from his mouth. He hadn't done this in a far too long time, and mentally noted he should do more fun things like these with the wolves who mattered to him. His smile was mirrored by his counterpart, who seemed to share his sentiment.

Ness breathed in deep through her nose and then expelled the frigid air out of her mouth, repeating this several times as the rate of her heart readjusted and her levels of adrenaline spiraled down slowly. "I think I'm gonna like it here," the girl heaved, giving the alpha a friendly nip on the shoulder before turning her gaze upwards. They had climbed the territory, and she had come far into the midst of it. Moonspear felt even more impressive beneath her feet than it did from afar. And that was saying something, she thought.

"Show me some chill spots to crash for the night?" she turned back to Charon eagerly, smiling cheekily as the male easily started to the lead again. Ness took up a lazy trot at his hip.

Thank you! And nope, this is a good spot. Thanks for the thread :)