Moonspear waves

hoping for a @Korei Julia !

Dawn was rapidly approaching and Charon wondered how Julia was doing these days. He'd not had much personal interaction with her lately and it was time, even if he'd always thought her a little, well, whinier than the other three (with Lyra making a quick second place there). He watched the pups often and noted the triplets often played together, but Julia seemed fine to him even if she was on her own more. The triplets included her sometimes, anyway.

One thing that comforted Charon was that his daughter at least didn't seem to inhibit any of Lazarus' aggressive, claimy traits and that made him feel more like she might be his daughter. He'd worried in the first months that she might be his, but now it seemed that was just a silly thought what with how she grew up to be more like... Well, a bit like Levi, he realised when he thought about it, which was a comforting thought. He'd take whiny over Lazarus-like any day. For some reason he didn't worry much about that when it came to his triplets, because they had his eyes, or so he was told.

As the sun set Charon made his way to the rendezvous site, hoping to catch his odd-one-out daughter. Truthfully, he didn't even really know what sort of things she liked to do, but he hoped he could interest her in some star-gazing as the stars would come out more in a few hours.

Korei sniffed at the air and caught the scent of her Papa. She liked Papa, her fur was like his. And she liked Mama too, but Mama was too similar to her sisters who sometimes made her feel left out. Sometimes. But she liked Papa, because he was also leader. And she wanted to impress, to feel independent. So who better to impress, then the leader and Papa?

She came bounding out and stopped out in front, tail wagging behind her. "Papa!" She walked slowly up to him this time, reaching up with her nose to make contact with his. "Can we play, Papa?" she asked, a wide smile on her face.

As Julia came into view and came up to him, he was reminded again of why she was his least favourite child. Not that he'd ever tell her such, of course, but there'd always been that doubt, from the beginning. He'd let the triplets bully Julia because she needed to just toughen up and he'd let her be alone when they played because she'd just need to fix things on her own. Yet somehow as she grew up he became more and more aware she wasn't likely Lazarus' anyway. He did love her — but it was just different. He didn't like the whining. He didn't like how polite she was. He didn't realise that her personality was a typical in the line of his family, looking only at himself and Ame. He didn't want to think about the fact that his least favourite child was a lot like his missing brother Levi or his soft-spoken mother (from what Thistle and Ragnar'd told him of her).

He wanted to love her as much as the rest, but somehow he just didn't. "Don't whine, Julia," he said sternly when she asked him to play. "What kind of game do you want to play? I was thinking we could find a nice spot to watch the stars when it gets darker." He looked expectantly at his daughter, hoping that she would like his suggestion. Somehow he hoped that she would do something to prove that she was as worthy of his love as the triplets, so that he didn't need to feel guilty anymore.

p.s. you are all my favourite daughters OOC, even if Charon is a prick ;) <3

Korei Julia approached her father, only to be met with a stern reply. Her face fell, and she sat on the spot. "Yes, Papa." She didn't ever mean to whine. It was how she asked. And she never understood why, nor would she understand why her father was like that with her. She went to answer, but her tail switched on to frenzy mode when she heard her papa's idea.

"Can we?" Her eyes widened as if she realised, or thought, she was whining and spoke again. "I mean, yes Papa." She had her eyes averted as she said that. "I would like to see the stars with you."

Even the way that she looked at him with those sad eyes made him feel frustrated, as though she was deliberately trying to manipulate him into changing his mind. A part of him knew this wasn't true, of course, that she was just a little girl and that it wasn't like she had planned this all out. He just wished she was.. tougher, like the other girls, like Alya and Hydra.

She agreed to watch the stars, enthusiastic at first, then a little more demure. Charon once more found himself thinking, if only she was more confident, not realising (or perhaps deep down being more frustrated about it) that he had made her this way. Though he said nothing, hoping that she'd just grow over this childish behaviour with time, his body language spoke volumes on his disapproval. "Well, we have some time to get to the higher regions," said Charon with a forced smile, "So let's get going!"

Maybe part of him hoped spending more time with Julia would fix things somehow. He really did want things to be better between them. He nosed her cheek and then lead the way towards a path that lead up the mountainside, silently inviting her to follow.

Korei Julia kept her eyes downcast. She lifted her head only once to see Charon's smile, and thought it was genuine. Her tail wagged behind her at it. His nose to her cheek got her tail wagging faster, and she felt a little hum coming up in from within, a hum of glee. She didn't catch his body language, and followed along when her Papa started off. 

"Do stars have names, Papa?" she asked as she followed along behind him. "What are stars?" she added. She was quite curious to know about stars, and what Papa knew about the lights in the sky.

A lot of questions were fired at him as Julia followed behind, staying obediently behind his shoulder. He was beginning to mellow a little, perhaps out of guilt, perhaps because he liked the way she acted now better. What are the stars was the kind of question he had no direct answer to, because he didn't know, either.

"Some stars have names, especially the big and bright ones," he explained, a bit more patiently so now, "And together they form star figures that are called constellations. It means that several stars make a figure in the sky." He looked at Julia to see if she understood, deciding to save the 'what are the stars' question for later, when they'd settled.

He rounded up a corner and there was a ledge there from which they could watch the stars, where he settled down on the ground, paws dangling from the edge.

Her ears perked up as he answered one of her question. She forgot the other question she asked as he answered her question. The term star figures was interesting, and once he was done she looked up as they walked. Trying to see these 'figures' in the stars. She never found any, and looked at her dad with a questioning look. 

They stopped soon, and once again she looked up for these constellations. "I don't see any figures, Papa. Where are they?" 

He settled at the ledge and looked back at Julia when she said that she didn't see any figures. He wondered if she was really his child, but then, the way she was was nothing like Lazarus, either. He didn't understand where the weakness came from; unaware of how much his maternal side had of the same soft qualities that Julia showed, but that he couldn't shelf under the 'qualities' label himself. "Constellations, Julia. They're called constellations," he said sternly as a he corrected her.

"You have to draw the invisible lines yourself. Like, there's the big dipper and little dipper, which both look kind of like a square with a tail on it." He looked expectantly at Julia, hoping that she would be quick to find them, even though he was setting her up for an incredibly difficult task.

"Constellations...constellations" she repeated quietly to get it stuck in there. If she was going to impress her Papa, especially in intelligence she needed to know these things. That's what she thought about all of that. Every correction her Papa made she would try to remember. She gave a little nod to the air in front of her once she was sure she had it stuck in there.

Her eyes then shifted up. Invisible lines that she had to make herself. In her mind, that meant she could link any star she wanted to any other. And that only confused her more. She was about to question that when Charon mentioned some. She scanned the sky for these constellations...And she had no such luck. Her imagination was good, but it did not help her here. Too many possibilities of connections. "I can't find them Papa." She had the look of disappointment.

He nodded as she tried to repeat the word, and then frowned as he watched her try to find the constellations he was looking for. He looked disappointed, even though he had tried this very tactic before time and time again with different wolves and nobody ever seemed to find the constellations on the first try.

He sighed and pointed a paw at the sky while he leaned down close beside Julia, so that he could see from her vantage point. "Follow my paw... Do you see it now?" he asked her while he pointed at the big dipper, hoping that she'd be able to find it that time, with a little help.

Her ear flicked when she heard him sigh. She didn't want to see the disappointment in his face, so kept her gaze to the sky instead. Her Papa spoke, and her gaze shifted to his paw, trying to find where he was pointing to. A group of bright stars against the dark sky and surrouned by other stars. She started forming the line. "Which one is that one, Papa?" she asked, looking up to her Papa's face.

There was no telling whether Julia had actually seen the constellation that he pointed out. She just asked which 'one' it was, and he just hoped that they were looking at the same thing.

"That's the big dipper. Do you see it? It's like a square with a tail." He looked back at Julia, hoping that she was seeing the same thing as he that time.

Korei looked closer as Papa spoke of the shape of the constellation. A square with a tail. Slowly, but surely, she could see it, or at least she hoped that was what she saw. She was ever hopeful. "I see it Papa!...I think" she added, a little bit unsure. "What others are up there, Papa?"

He smiled when she said that she saw the constellation, and he hoped that she really did see it and wasn't just trying to please him. She then asked him what others were out there and he laughed, explaining, "There are more constellations out there than you can count." Where to start? She was eager to learn and for that he was grateful, but it seemed impossible to explain simply everything at once.

He started with; "See the smaller blob with the tail just a bit above the big dipper? That's the little dipper." Again he lifted his paw to indicate the precise location, and said; "They look a bit like a big and a small wolf, don't they? Almost like our starry mirror images."

Korei tipped her head at his answer. It definitely looked like there could be many. But she was going to try. "Hundreds? Thousands? Ooh, hundred and one? That many constellations?" Her tail wagged behind her, she was sure one of thozse answers was right, absolutely certain.

Her head turned back to the sky. "Big dipper and little dipper." She laughed a little at the choice in names. "Like...me and you, Papa!" She poked her Papa with a paw, "Big wolf" then put her paw to herself. "And little wolf! Right Papa?"

KJ is so precious & adorable <3

Again she asked a lot of questions that he had no answers to and so he answered somewhat curtly, "It's a lot, okay?" Because he didn't know the answer and how could he be expected to know such things to start with? He was tempted to just make up some shit, but this was a question he couldn't think of any funny cool answer to.

Julia went along in the whole starry mirror images thing as she looked at the dippers and then compared them to herself and her father. "That's right, sweetie," he said, softening again and he nosed Julia's head. "Did you like the star lesson?" It was easy to take for granted his childrens' love for the stars, since he himself liked them so much.

"Okay, Papa" she murmured very quietly. Her Papa softened and nosed through the hair on her head. She closed her eyes and smiled, her tail wagging behind her. She nodded, she had enjoyed the lesson. And she had gotten closer to her Papa. "I did, Papa. Thank you." She rubbed her cheek against his side, and let out a little yawn.

Charon was glad that his daughter had enjoyed the lesson. He'd finally found something that she liked and maybe with some practise, Julia could become good at it, so that she had her own thing to excel in. "Good. We can have another lesson soon," he promised. "And you could ask mama about it, too." After all, Ame was also well-versed in the ways of the stars.

"Well, papa's taking nap. Run along now, Julia." Charon nosed Julia's cheek and then her side to move her along before settling himself on the ground to take a quick nap — he hoped to awake underneath the stars later to admire them some more on his own.

Korei put a wide smile on her face, her tail wagging so much her rear end shuffled with it. Another chance to impress her Papa. "Yes Papa, I will!" Little Korei then headed off to the den, where she went down to take have her sleep for the night, dreaming of the constellations she had been taught of.