Moonspear up and up

Charon enjoyed the summers, because he could get higher up the mountain then. He had yet to venture all the way to the top, but today was one of those days that he intended to give it a try, see how far he could get — see if he could get higher than he had last summer (for as far as he could tell exactly where he'd been, then).

It was around sunset when he was climbing today. When he found a small ledge Charon took a short break, taking his time to look at the beautiful scenery down below and also trying to gauge whether he'd be able to follow this trail for much longer. The higher up he came, the more difficult and risky it was to find the right paths.

@Terance :D

just like charon, terance was getting in a nightly climb. he might've had different ambitions though, as the young stone was looking for his favorite stargazing spot. for some damn reason, he always struggled to find it-- probably because it was so high up. either way, he was on a friggin' mountain, so the sky was pretty much right there wherever he went, it was just the comfort of that spot that he preferred-- felt closer to the moon. 

when he caught whiff of charon's scent, terance paused. after a few moments thought, he made his way towards the ostrega male, picking out his pale coat against the night sky. he remembered stargazing with him that one time with lyra-- boy was that weird. but lyra wasn't here today, and terance liked his alpha, so if they just happened to do it again, he wouldn't mind.

terance was pretty sure that charon was downwind, so he probably scented him by now. but in case he didn't, the yearling let out a soft chuff and lowered his posture. if he got any attention from his leader, he'd ask, "mind company?"

Before he heard Terance's voice, Charon already knew that he should expect company. Charon stopped and looked over his shoulder, where he saw Terance approach. He chuffed in greeting as Terance came his way and smiled confidently though genuinely. He didn't directly answer the question that he was given, indirectly answering it with a 'yes' as he continued the conversation. "I've always wondered if this mountain goes high enough to where you can touch the stars," he mused, "But I'm not sure if the top itself is accessible. I didn't find it last summer, at least, and haven't found any paths up it so far, but there's a lot to discover."

Charon continued along the path that he had been following, going further up if Terance would follow. "What do you think?"

charon made no suggestions that he would be offended if terance joined him, so he did. the white-chested stone made his way closer and settled beside him, gaze following his alpha's. charon said something that kinda sounded like nonsense to terance-- but he was his mothers son, after all. maybe they could touch the stars-- and moonspear was the highest thing he'd ever encountered, so this very well could be the place they could do it. his tail waved.

"yeah," he offered, blinking to focus in on a particularly red star off into the distance, "i think so-- no harm in trying anyway." then, sheepishly, terance side-eyed charon before adding, "i dunno if i could make it up there though, i can never find my way around the taller peaks."

Charon's own experience was much the same as Terance's and he nodded. "Yeah... Me neither. So far, anyway. Or maybe there just isn't any safe paths up." He wasn't a good climber, so Charon stuck to what were somewhat-of-a-path. "Do you think there's a mountain high enough where you can touch the stars?" he asked casually while he followed his path up. He knew some wolves thought this idea to be prepostrous, but Charon thought it a neat idea still, to be able to climb all the way to the top of Moonspear and touch his beloved stars; maybe see if they really embodied the wolves in his past, or some of them at least.

honestly, terance didn't see why not. again, he wasn't sure it was possible-- he'd never done it before-- but he'd never really tried... so... maybe. it sounded partially like a myth, and partially like it could be real life if he just tried, like really hard. he took a moment a study the higher cliffs around them, his tail swaying. "yeah," he said, somewhat bluntly. somewhere, there had to be something... at least, he'd assume.

"i dunno about here, though," he added, glancing to charon again, "or... maybe that's why it's so hard to get up to the top." what an osprey thing to say. his green eyes narrowed back to the cliffs, curiosity poking at his sides. what food for thought, he decided.

Terance's answer was pleasing, as Charon always liked to think that there was a place where he could touch the stars. He wasn't sure either if it was here, although Charon was not sure there were mountains higher than here out there. He sure hadn't met any, except maybe for the sunspire, whose height was a good match for Moonspear.

The next thing Terance said reminded Charon of Osprey, but it made him smile not only for that fact but also because it's what he himself had thought many a time before. That it might be hard to reach the top because it was so high that they just couldn't find it. He continued the climb as he said, "Yeah, maybe. We'll just have to find out some day." It was clear from his words that he wasn't too sure that they'd find out today, exactly; but who knew. It was hard to tell how far or close the top was before you reached them, in Charon's experience. "Some day, I'm going to find a place where I can touch them, just... see what they really are, meet them, or whatever." That sounded a bit weird, he thought after saying it, but whatever.

terance nodded, mostly just listening to his alpha. his tail flicked as he thought, green gaze scanning the horizon and all of it's hills and valleys. he wondered if sarah was out there, somewhere-- he hoped she was. but that wasn't what they were talking about, he knew that, he pushed his concern to the side.

"you think they're like... living things?" he asked, not in a mocking way, but genuine curiosity. terance didn't know any better himself.

Terance asked a question about what Charon had just said, which didn't surprise him. He had made it sound a little weird, perhaps. "No — Well, maybe. I don't really know what they are." Charon paused thoughtfully as he looked up. "But that's why I'd like to find out. I know that the wolves who pass away go to the stars, maybe even become stars, so maybe all of the stars are just really wolves who once lived and follow our journeys now." He looked up with a thoughtful expression while he considered this. Glancing at Terance, he asked, "What do you think they are?" He was semi-curious about what Osprey thought they were too and hoped maybe Terance'd give him a glance into her thoughts too.

terance stared for a few moments more. "osprey said that once," he said, tail flicking. he liked to believe that was true... but he also wasn't sure he'd want to be a star. osprey had also mentioned that they fell to earth sometimes... and he wouldn't want that to happen to him. "i think they're rocks," he replied quietly, curiously. big, shiny rocks that sparkled no matter what. that felt more realistic, a more dante explanation. but truthfully, who knew? 

terance wasn't about to get into the whole 'where we go when we die' story, because he was still pretty hung up on sarah's disappearance, so he let his mind drop the topic. "i think the moon is a rock too," he added-- just for good measure.

Charon couldn't help but laugh when Terance said that Osprey'd said they were rocks. "Rocks?" he mimicked incredulously as he looked up. They were way too shiny to be rocks, really. "Must be some damn magical rocks then, considering they're so tiny and alight and, y'know, in the sky." He glanced up again at the millions of little shiny dots in the skies and couldn't imagine, really, that they were really just rocks. What kept them up in the air if they were rocks? Then again, Osprey had always been one with a big fantasy and Charon didn't blame her for spreading this info he thought to be false. It was admirable, in a way.

He glanced up at the moon, which seemed more plausibly a rock from the way it looked. Maybe that's what Osprey had based her conclusions on. "At least that looks a bit like a rock. Though I can't imagine how it keeps floating around like that if it is."

terance was quiet, staring at the sky with pursed lips-- he looked a little funny, honestly. he didn't have an answer for charon, this was always the part of the conversation where osprey or wraen would jump in with some crazy explanation like-- "they're held up by giant invisible cougars!" or ''the night fairies lift the moon into the sky every evening!" but osprey wasn't here... and neither was wraen, and terance didn't always think like that.

"we'll find out one day," terance decided, glancing to charon with a sneaky half-grin.

want to fade this..? idk what more they could talk about. feel free to post again or archive as is :)

Terance seemed lost in thoughts for a moment, as Charon was too, thinking of much the same things as he tried to come up with a good explanation for everything. At Terance's eventual words, Charon nodded, agreeing easily with a "hmm-mm." His gaze turned upward again, this time not towards the sky but towards the path they were following as he wondered what was round the corner. They would doubtlessly not reach the peak tonight either, but Charon was determined to go higher than he had before and it helped to have a companion by his side to keep him company through the journey upwards.