Moonspear when i wear my heelys, i give all the girls feelies
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Ooc — Kat
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#1
All Welcome 
She simply couldn't sleep. After tossing and turning for an hour, Galaxy tiptoed out of the den. She didn't go far, just sought out a cool patch of grass and flopped down with a weary sigh. She didn't know why she felt so restless. Perhaps she had finally caught up on sleep.

Her eyes drifted upward. That same wispy, white mist was smeared across the skies. She and Vela had decided it was some sort of strange cloud, though it was very different than any cloud she'd ever seen. Besides, clouds moved. Sometimes they went fast, other times they went slow. But they never sat still like this weird phenomenon.

Her attention shifted to the moon, which was about halfway full. If Galaxy squinted, she swore she could see shadows and shapes on its surface. That made her think: what was the moon, exactly? And why did it change shape every night? How come it occasionally even disappeared?

Maybe @Korei Julia can tell her she's looking at the Milky Way? ;)
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#2
Korei after meeting her with her father set out to find Galaxy. Some part of her still felt she had been responsible in the young ones supposed death, although she was gleefully glad that she had managed to survive after all this time. She found the young pup looking up to the sky. She recalled the last time she could remember her and Papa having a good time alone together, watching the stars as he named the constellations. Something she wanted to pass on.

She sat by her little sister, not saying a word and gazed up with her. She did not notice that her sisters attention had shifted to the moon. "You see all those stars? They connect up, you know. In things called...called...contellatins" she said, forgetting how to spell the long word right. "Papa taught me about them."
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#3
A movement caught her eye and Galaxy glanced downward, eyes narrowed not in malice but because everything looked so much darker after staring at the moon so long. She saw a white silhouette padding closer and it only took her a second or two to recognize, "Korei!" Her voice came out as a stage whisper because she didn't want Charon or Amekaze to wake and scold her for being out of bed.

Her older sister didn't seem to find it problematic. She settled down beside the pup and they both gazed up at the stars for a while before Korei spoke of stars and constellations. "Contelations?" she repeated, voice still low. "I don't get it," Galaxy admitted. "What are they? And what's that?" she added, pointing a single white toe at the milky smear.
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#4
When Galaxy repeated the word, Korei realized that it did not sound right at all, but she made no attempt to correct it. "Uh...yes." Korei pointed with a paw up to a line of stars that she recalled her Papa had shown her as the Big Dipper. 

"That there? That's the big dipper" she said, trying to trace it with her paw to point out the pattern of stars to her little sister. She was about to point out the other dipper when the other half of the question processed into her mind, and she too looked to the milky shape. "I...I don't really know...It almost looks like milk." That made her feel hungry for milk all of a sudden.
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#5
Korei didn't know about the white streak either. Galaxy's lips pursed thoughtfully as her sister tried to point out a constellation. The pup didn't really know where to look or what to look for, though she peered at Korei's toe and then tried to follow where it pointed. She just saw a scatter of stars and nothing else. She tried to remember what Korei had just said: "They connect up, you know." Maybe she should be looking for patterns and shapes?

"I don't see it," she admitted after a long while. "What's a big dipper even look like?" Perhaps that might help her find it.
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Korei waited patiently, eagerly for the smaller wolf to give the answer she was expecting. The answer she received was not what she was expecting, not at all. Though she did not sigh, for anyone as young as Galaxy, it would be harder for someone like her to see it. So Korei decided to point it out specifically. She traced it again with a paw. 

"The big dipper is those seven stars. See, it's like a shape with a tail. Do you see it?" Korei asked, glancing down to the young pup. This must have been the feeling her Papa had when teaching her. Was it pride? It was something, and she was liking whatever feeling this lesson was giving her.
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#7
She drew in a breath and held it in her chest as she concentrated. There were so many stars, it was hard for her to pick out a particular few. But when it finally happened and Galaxy managed to identify the constellation, her breath left her in a rush as she shouted, "I see it!" After which she immediately clapped her paws over her mouth and glanced owlishly at the nearby den.

When nobody emerged to rebuke her, Galaxy put her feet down and said, "Why's it called a big dipper? What even is a dipper?"
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Korei was overjoyed to hear that Galaxy could actually see it, the Big Dipper. It meant to Korei that she was indeed good at something. She glanced over at the den, also wondering if Galaxy's shout had woken anyone up. Then, Galaxy began speaking again. Asking a question that only could remind Korei of her own questions. 

"I don't know, Galaxy..." She was thinking that maybe Galaxy could ask Papa, but everytime she herself had asked such a question, he got mad. So she decided it against it. "Now, can you find the Little Dipper? It's the same, but smaller." This time, she did not point it out, hoping galaxy could find it on her own. If she needed help however, she would gladly give.
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#9
Apparently there wasn't just a Big Dipper but a Little Dipper as well. Galaxy peered up at the stars, trying to locate it in the scatter, but found herself growing sort of bored. Her eyes fell earthward again and she looked at her sister, then down at herself, then back to Korei.

"Why are we white?" Galaxy suddenly wondered.
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#10
Korei had never wondered that herself. Galaxy was much more curious than herself. And after all the questions Korei had asked her Papa herself, she was beginning to get worried for her little sister. What if Papa did not take too kindly to the questions? 

"I...I don't know, Galaxy..." After her fight with Papa, she was worried Papa might one day get angry at Galaxy for asking questions. She didn't want Galaxy to get yelled at. "G...Galaxy...Can you promise me something?"
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#11
The question seemed to bewilder Korei. Before the pup could ponder that, though, her sister asked her if she could make a promise. Promises were almost exciting as secrets. Galaxy didn't quite understand how they worked but she knew the basic premise.

"What's it?" she answered.
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#12
Korei laid down on her belly, trying to get her head level with her young sister. Her tail slowly swayed behind her. All she wanted was to keep her sister safe from being yelled at. In a way, she wanted to keep her from being...herself.

"Don't ask too many questions to Papa...okay? He gets a bit..." She wasn't sure how she could say this. "Just don't ask too many questions. And don't say I told you this, okay?" She could not afford the anger of her father once more.
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#13
He hadn't heard a word of the conversation thus far, though he guessed, since the stars were out, that Julia was finally teaching the pups about the stars. By the time Charon came into view Julia'd just finished speaking, almost like she had summoned him (speak of the devil...), and Galaxy'd be able to get in a word or ten before he came into hearing range. He carried a scrawny rabbit that he'd hunted, knowing Galaxy needed all the sustenance she could get after her fall down the mountain and the weeks that followed.

Charon approached Julia and Galaxy with a wave of his tail and a soft expression that was mostly directed at Galaxy. He put down the dead rabbit by her side and said, "Hello little princess. Are you hungry? Has Julia been teaching you lots of things about the galaxy tonight?" Charon reached down to nuzzle Galaxy's cheek and then waited, hoping that she'd tell him what she had been learning. He mostly ignored Julia, although not consciously so, first waiting for his daughter's reply.
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#14
Their father had never given Galaxy a hard time for asking questions (or anything else, for that matter) but she was still young and impressionable. She swallowed and nodded in agreement, taking her older sister's words completely at face value.

Charon himself appeared and the puppy looked around sheepishly. But he didn't seem to be mad at her at all. In fact, he offered her food, which Galaxy happily accepted. As she munched on it, the Alpha male asked her a question. Cheeks full of meat, she nodded.

After swallowing the mouthful, she replied, "Yeah! Hey, what's that?" She pointed at the milky smear across the heavens, apparently forgetting all about the things Korei had just told her.
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Korei noticed her father coming to the sisters, and immediately thought that he had heard everything. And if he did, he acted unfazed. She turned her gaze to the sky, purposefully ignoring him. Even though part of her did not want to, her emotions still got the better of her. She only acknowledged Galaxy's question, but made no answer as she had been asked already.
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#16
Completely unaware of the awkward situation he had created, Charon smiled appreciatively at Julia, glad that she had been teaching Galaxy some useful stuff (or so he presumed). Then he looked at Galaxy as she asked him a question and he looked up, following her gaze and gesture up to the star-filled skies. "That's the Milky Way." He didn't actually know a whole lot about the milky way beside its name, so most of his answer consisted of guesses that he patiently explained: "There's lots and lots of stars in one place there, that's why it stands out so much and is so white."
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#17
The name immediately charmed Galaxy and she grinned at her sister. "You were right!" she said, referencing Korei Julia's remark about the milky appearance. "It's milky, like us!" she added a little inanely, smiling between her father and sister before letting her gaze linger on that stream of concentrated stars hovering above their heads.

"Daddy," she announced blithely about nine seconds later, "I learned about dippers! And contemplations!" Right after this declaration, her jaws split in a sudden and huge yawn.
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Korei looked down at her sister as Galaxy grinned up at her. That got Korei's tail wagging happily. She was happy that Galaxy was happy, especially with that grin she was showing her. 

Then Galaxy spoke to Papa about what Julia had taught her, even mispronouncing constellations as she had mispronounced it. She turned her own gaze to Charon, looking for some type of appreciation, as she had passed on the knowledge he had given her. Even though they had had a a fight, she still loved him as her Papa.
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#19
Charon was surprised that Julia had said anything about the milky way to Galaxy, but maybe he'd mentioned it in one of his teaching sessions. Or maybe she'd once asked about it when she was as little as Galaxy was now. They were so inquisitive at this age, and it wasn't quite as annoying yet. "Yep, it's milky like us!" he parroted with a grin, endeared and happy with his recovered daughter's endless enthusiasm and energy.

He chuckled as Galaxy explained what she had learned about. He might've been angry if he had known Julia'd told the word wrong, thinking she should know this by now, but he had no idea and thought it adorable how Galaxy garbled up the word (possibly because Galaxy could presently do no wrong and he was just happy to have her back). "It's constellations, sweetie," he said and he nuzzled the top of Galaxy's head. She let out a big, long yawn then. "Oh! Looks like it's nap time to process all the learning!" He smiled at Julia in a small gesture of appreciation for the teaching she had done. Maybe she would be okay after all, but it was a small step in a long process and he hoped that she would continue the positive steps forward. Charon lay down on the ground and stretched his legs before the yawnies caught him too. "Papa could use a nap too..."
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#20
Galaxy's head cocked once the yawn passed. In her mind, naps were for the daytime. It was nighttime and well past her bedtime now. But Charon hadn't rebuked her and the pup wasn't about to point out any of this. Instead, she slithered in between the Alpha male's outstretched forelegs, then flopped onto her back so she could peer up at the night sky until sleep eventually stole over her.
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#21
Korei watched Galaxy give a yawn, and felt her own yawn come on. The pale daughter watched as her Papa gave her a smile, and that warmed her heart. Her tail curled around the side of her leg, before it went back to the back as she stood up to move off to find somewhere to sleep. The den she had huddled up in, it had been an abandoned one, luckily enough. She made it her own, and this was where she headed off, but not before sharing a smile of her own to her Papa.
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#22
Charon watched as Julia left while Galaxy nestled herself between his outstretched legs. She shared a smile before turning around to leave and he felt a bit more content again with how things were between them. Something told him they'd revert back to weird sooner or later, but maybe not this time. Maybe Julia was finally growing up.

With that pleasant thought he drifted off to sleep, nose against Galaxy's fur as a physical reminder she was really still there.