Moonspear Half-Moon

@Hydra @Terance Backdated by one day, with permission

Korei couldn't believe what had happened. This entire time, she never thought she would. She saw everything as peaceful, the only bad thing she ever witnessed was her paw. She began thinking. Thinking about why life was so dangerous. How she never knew about how everything could get so...bad.

So she had been sulking in a hole. Not even her den, just a hole. Might have been someone else's den, maybe not. She had just ran away after seeing Galaxy fall. She didn't even know she died, but she figured it out over time, over thinking. She kept questioning life, and how it could go well and all happy if things like that could happen.

terance had not been at the pack gathering to watch the meteor shower. he'd went off to his own, favorite place to stargaze and did it there instead. it wasn't until the next day he'd heard of the happenings (from hydra, no doubt). he'd felt bad, certainly, but he hadn't really met any of the little ostrega's... so... oh well. he'd be sympathetic for the rest of the family, of course, but terance wasn't really attached to anyone but the triplets and his own sisters.

apathetic terance lasted as long as it took for him to stumble upon a pale girl, holed up in some sort of ditch. he'd almost (but not quite, mind you) slipped in, but stopped at the edge only to send a few pebbles and dust particles tumbling down. he stared, recognizing korei julia, and frowned almost immediately after. according to hydra, it had been entirely her fault... though he didn't exactly know the details.

he let out a low chuff, head tilting, as he studied the expression of the always-forgotten ostrega daughter. "hey... uh, korei, right?" he offered-- he wasn't here to chastise her.

Korei indeed did hear the unfamiliar voice, but she made no motion to do anything. She had lost a sister she barely even knew. She did not wish to be talked to, by anyone. Even if Pyx were still here, she would have even refused her to come and speak to her. 

But eventually, her kind personality turned her head around to at least acknowledge them. She stared over at them, her eyes and the fur around her eyes wet, and tired. The only time she got sleep, she had cried herself to sleep. Some might think she was getting too emotional over this, but she did not care anymore what others believed.

From a distance she hadn't spotted Korei—she had spotted Terance—and the swift Hydra lept from rock to rock, picking her way to him. Life hadn't much changed for her since her sibling Galaxy had passed, except for her becoming entirely mistrustful of Korei for being far more inept than they could have ever even guessed. Her fathers distaste of the pale Julia flooded into her, and filleth the cup of her mirror images as well. Hydra would not manipulate anyone to have a particular opinion of Julia—not intentionally, anyhow—but it was fair to tell them the facts, and to keep them away from the last remaining Ostrega cubs. For her own part, she now wanted absolutely nothing to do with Korei, who she considered to be the lowest of the low within the packs own totem pole. 

Terance! she greeted excitedly, though was given pause when she saw a tuft of white fur coming out from the rocks. In moving nearer, she saw what it was. Quite openly did Hydra snarl and snap her fangs in Korei's direction, disdain, disappointment, and even a measure of true sadness ebbing forth from the sound. If only Korei hadn't been so... so... herself in that moment, their fathers eyes could have been where they ought to have been—his youngest! Who really didn't know better, and so were susceptible to stupid ways to die. She hadn't the capability in this moment to concoct words for Terance, she just knew she was so irate that she wanted to get the hell out of dodge lest she snap at Korei and lay into her for the pent up aggravation she did feel for what had happened. So she made way toward the borders, whipping her head away from the golden-eyed Julia and marching proudly on and away.

ooo buddy was there a totally change of temperature. terance had duly noted the wetness around korei's face, but he'd hardly had a chance to think of something to say before his closest shadow appeared. hydra was filled with a, well, hydra-like aura, and terance abandoned his view of korei only to wave his tail and begin to respond to hydra. but in that split second, it'd already dropped like 20 degrees. terance felt a weight on his shoulders as the stone-cold gaze of the cerberus fell upon him-- or, more likely, korei. her reaction was something that terance would note as completely uncalled for, and he suddenly felt a bit of heat rise up to his chest. by now, hydra had already turned tail and stalked away, but the fur on his shoulders bristled very noticeably.

could she not see the way he sister looked? her own, goddamn sister? she looked miserable-- did hydra truly not care? terance was visably angry, and maybe a little upset. the only thing he could think about was sarah, and he had to physically readjust himself to calm down. 

after that, terance did something (characteristically on point) based purely on emotion. carefully, he lowered himself to his stomach and hung his head just over the edge, ears flattened. "i don't blame you, korei," he said quietly.

Korei felt a chill, and she instantly went to panic mode when Hydra snapped at her, as she retreated back. She let out a short cry as Hydra began to leave, although Korei had not realized it until Terance spoke. 

She sniffled. She felt as if everyone was blaming her, and even though she could not think of a reason behind the blame, she only believed what every one else believed. "What do y-you want?" she asked, wiping a paw over her wet face. "Are you here to blame me, just like everyone else?"

terance had... just... said... no matter. he tried again. "i'm not," he said, ears flattened to his head, "i don't think it was." he watched her quietly afterwards, letting her get any of the sobs she had out-- especially after whatever hydra had just done. he didn't blame her-- whatever hydra had told him didn't really seem all that bad... honestly, it just seemed like korei was maybe a little dumb, and terance could definitely believe that. but-- that wasn't her fault? well, not entirely.

"i think everyone's making this a bigger deal than it really is," he added with a small shrug.

To be honest, I missed the part he said that

Korei's gaze softened for a short moment. She wasn't sure whether to believe him. She rested her head on both her paws, huffing tiredly. Terance continued, adding that it wasn't that big of a deal. Korei took that the wrong way. She glared right at him. "Not a big deal?! My sister is dead!" She paused, surprised by her own anger. She had never gotten angry before. "She's gone...and they think it's my fault." The opinion of one compared to everyone else wa nothing to her, she was still hut they thought so.

LOL! no worries

terance raised an eyebrow, head lifting slightly from the ground. "but... is it really your fault?" he asked, somewhat quietly. the question echoed inside his own head, a harder question for himself to answer than for korei, he was sure. it was one thing for a pup to fling herself off a cliff while being unsupervised but... he actually lost a wolf. or, well, maybe it wasn't that different... but terance couldn't fully convince himself of that-- he was too stubborn, and he couldn't get out of his guilt that easily.

Korei was stricken silent, unsure of how she could even answer that. She believed what she was told. "I..." Her words hung off the end of her tongue, they just could not leave. "I thought...I don't know..." She felt her eyes beginning to become teary. She didn't know what to think anymore. "Do you really believe that? That it's not my fault? Papa snapped at me when it happened, just like Hydra."

terance shrugged, resting his head on his paws again. "some wolves blame others because they need someone to blame," he said with a glance sideways. "how many other wolves were around to watch those pups?" he then asked, another shrug forming on his shoulders, "who let them go that close to the cliffs to begin with?" there were a lot of things that could've gone wrong, as far as he could tell. 

"if you don't believe it was truly your fault, you can't let them tell you it was."

Korei wasn't sure, her eyes had been to the stars on that night. She didn't really know who had let them so close to the edge, and almost the entire pack had been there to watch the meteor shower.

"Everyone...was there...I never saw Galaxy there when it happened..." Terance said that if it wasn't her fault, she shouldn't let them tell her that. But, what if a part of her believed that too? She had asked Charon a question, and that was when Galaxy fell. "I distracted Papa, when he could have...he could have..." She couldn't help it, she started to cry.