Moonspear blood heat over tension

terance was more than pleased to be back to full health. he patrolled the territory with a bright gaze and pricked ears. the limp he'd acquired was completely gone, thankfully, and terance accounted that to lyra's millions and millions of scolding to 'get more rest!' he'd fallen back, just a bit, but he was finally healed and out in the world at a full 100%-- that was the important part. 

his nose hovered above the stone, twitching as he picked up on a scent. hydra, it seemed, had been this way recently, which didn't surprise terance in the slightest. his patrol buddy was always on the move, and especially as the beta, she had a lot to do. he'd seen less of her since his injury and since her promotion, but he supposed that that was alright. she was doing great things, and he was happy for her. jealous? maybe, but happy.

he raised his head, looking back over the cliffs, his tail waving thoughtfully. a cool gust of wind blew by, ruffling the thick fur along his cheeks, and along with it-- the scent of @Rannoch.

For the first time since he arrived at Moonspear, the Iota dared to climb the mountain. Though Rannoch knew that hadn't recovered entirely, he figured that he would fine as long as he kept to a more accessible trail. Rannoch would not partake in any risky behavior in his ascent; he would be overly analytic about every minuscule action. 

The day was young as he slowly made his way up the trail. Despite the overcast conditions, some sunlight managed to dapple his path. Though it was beautiful outside, Rannoch did not plan to be out long. He had promised to return to @Liffey by mid-day and would do everything in his power to keep his promise to her. Perhaps, if she were willing, they would return to spot later that day to catch the sunset. 

A cold rush of wind, which carried Terance's scent, caused the Iota to pause his trek. Following his nose, Rannoch sought his friend as his eyes roved the territory as he attempted to find the dark guardian. But, once Rannoch realized that his friend wasn't in the immediate vicinity, he called out in an attempt to locate him.
 
"Terance?" wisps of breath escaped him as he spoke into the frigid air.

as the stone began to step forward on his patrol again, he heard the gruff voice of rannoch-- who must've picked up on his own scent. feeling that he was far more agile than the still-healing male, terance took the initiative to go to him, letting out a loud bark in response. 

he took a path up and around the cliff above him-- it seemed rannoch was a bit higher than he was-- poking his head into view to see the dark shape of his friend. he let out another bark and began to pad over, his tail waving. "patrolling?" terance asked, giving him a light bump to the shoulder. the question was short, as always, but it begged a few other questions. how did he feel? did lyra give him a solid okay? find anything interesting. terance assumed, since rannoch tended to be more chatty than he, that the other male would perhaps tack on some extra info.

Soon enough, Terance arrived. The dark guardian's bark diverted Rannoch's attention in the right direction, and as quickly as he turned, he caught sight of his friend. A smile spread upon his dark lips, and his tail whipped gently at his haunches as Terance moved to clear the distance between them. 

"No, no patrolling for me," Rannoch replied as he moved to return the affectionate bump to the other's shoulder. "Exploring, if anything." If Rannoch were more specific, he would explain that he sought the perfect ledge to bring Liffey to later that day so that they could both look at the stars. But, at the moment, that information felt irrelevant. Instead, he added, "I feel like I don't really know that much about Moonspear's territory." 

"What about you?" he countered with a quirk of his brows. "Were you patrolling?" 

his tail waved as he listened, making note about the whole exploring thing and not really knowing the territory. terance pondered that a second-- he could probably show him something cool... probably. but truth be told terance usually just stuck to the outskirts of the territory himself. he merely replied with a light shrug and said "there's a lot to see here." because there certainly was a lot to see here. 

then he nodded, grinning a bit. "yeah... i think hydra's out too but i haven't seen her," he said, adding on the last bit as sort of a... fun fact. he and hydra were usually always out and about on the borders, and surely rannoch would come to figure that out soon-- if he hadn't already. "i patrol every day," he added, another lil' tidbit of info, "it's the only way i know how to pull my weight." the last part was a joke... of sorts, he tacked on a little smirk just for added dramatics.

Unlike Terance, Rannoch had yet to find himself on Moonspear's outskirts. The heart of the territory was all that he knew of his new home, and as he was beginning to feel more like himself, he also felt the need to explore more. "I'm sure there is," he replied with a smile as an idea formulated, "Maybe you could show me around?" To sweeten the deal, Rannoch fluttered his non-existent lashes as he added, "Please?" 

More information followed, and Rannoch listened as Terance said what he had suspected, that Hydra was also out and about. He nodded, but the motion was cut short as the Theta remarked a statement that Rannoch felt to be entirely unfactual. "I'm sure that you pull your weight in more ways than just patrolling," the former Alpha said with a frown.

the please was not necessary, as terance would've agreed anyway. instead of pushing terance to saying yes, it merely made him choke on his own words, his heart falling to his feet. he reacted as though it hadn't affected him at all, laughing it out and waving his tail. "yeah yeah... come on," he replied, beginning past the male and blinking a few times, trying to piece together why a he suddenly felt so hot.

rannoch brought up his joke, which was not meant to be taken seriously at all. but terance's humor was a bit more subtle than his mothers, a little dryer as well, so he wasn't surprised that rannoch had commented on it. he merely shrugged. "i mean i guess," he replied, green gaze stealing a glance at his friend, "i hunt too." and he looked at the stars-- but stargazing wasn't all that helpful to the pack... at least in his unprofessional opinion.

Rannoch watched as Terance reacted to what had been requested and, once it was agreed that the Theta would show him around, Rannoch's tail waved happily. "Thanks, Terance," he replied, his excitement evident in his voice. Even though the two yearlings had previously met briefly, Rannoch had already formulated a rather high opinion of Terance and was happy to spend more time with him. Without another word, Rannoch followed after the Guardian. 

Sarcasm had always been a hit or miss subject when it came to Rannoch as he usually only detected it from those he was closest with. Given that he and Terance had not yet spent much time with each other, Rannoch was oblivious to the humor behind the remark. When the Theta replied, Rannoch nodded quickly. "See?!" he replied with a smile, his voice encouraging as he continued, "I would say that that counts as pulling your weight!" 

terance chuckled a little, shrugging as they walked. "i mean, yeah, i guess it does," he replied, a small smile lingering on his lips. he snuck another glance. "i'm a naturalist," he suddenly decided to share, "like, stars and the sky and all that jazz." that pretty much summed it up, anyway.

then, just as it came up-- possibly interrupting rannoch-- ternace looked to their left and said, "there's a cache there." it was good for when he was patrolling-- he could break and go and grab something from it. he did that often enough, so he felt it was appropriate to point it out to his friend.

"It does," Rannoch reassured his friend. After all, without hunters and the bounty they provided, how would the pack survive? He did not dwell long on his thought, as Terance continued his dialogue with something that Rannoch had not expected. "Naturalists are also helpful to the pack," he replied, his mind quickly falling to Liffey and all that she had taught him. "Liffey, my, uh... friend," a gentle wash of scarlet radiated from the bridge of his nose at the mention of the Lambda, "is one, too!" In an attempt to keep his thoughts off of her, as he would find himself distracted otherwise, he continued, "she's told me a lot of stories about the stars and what lessons they provide us." Quickly, to further distance them from the subject of Liffey, he prompted, "do you know any stor--" But, as he began to ask, Terance suddenly cut him off. 

With Rannoch's attention redirected to the storage mechanism, he nodded to the fact and quickly committed it to memory. He was more than happy to change the subject and took no personal offense to the fact that Terance had interrupted as the information provided was important and he was eager for a distraction from Liffey. 

"Do we have many caches in Moonspear?" he asked, giving the pair of yearlings the final push to set aside the Naturalist-based conversation.

the mention of liffey brought out a small hint of frustration in terance, but he tried not to show it-- he wasn't sure why he felt it. regardless, he was aware of the situation. but, noting rannoch's own reaction, terance merely repeated, "friend." though, he didn't prod or push the subject any further-- he let it be.

terance knew a few stories and lessons-- but osprey's tended to stray from the more typical educational lessons. secretly, he thought about asking her about any... but he reminded himself that he wasn't sure he would get along with her-- he still couldn't decide why, exactly. the conversation trailed away anyhow.

"good bit," terance responded, trying to find a way to describe where they all were, "not hard to find, i don't think." after a brief pause, terance named off some of the more important ones, shrugging as he finished. "and then some here and there, this one's my favorite though-- cause it's so close to where i usually patrol, ya know."

If Rannoch had not been internally wrangling his emotions, he would have paid more mind to the manner in which Terance echoed his title for Liffey. Given his preoccupation, and instead of paying more attention to the verbal and physical cues that Terance gave, Rannoch merely bobbed his head in agreement as he attempted to usher them both away from any further discussion on the matter. 

Thankfully, Terance seemed just as eager to move onto a more note-worthy discussion. 

As Rannoch was given the information, he listened with intent as he attempted to retain what Terance said. "So, you're telling me this is where the best prey is?" Rannoch asked in regards to the cache before them as he looked at his friend with a grin.

terance returned the grin with a little one of his own, a chuckle rumbling in his throat. "well don't be takin' all of the good stuff!" he teased, shouldering the iota in a friendly manner. hydra and alya hung out around the borders, and did a lot of hunting themselves-- so in terance's opinion it was the freshest, but that could also just be personal bias... who knows. 

reluctantly, terance made a general note of where they were.

"you said that liffey likes stargazing?" he said, glancing to his friend, "i think these cliffs are some of the best for that kind of stuff." his nose turned up, pointing towards some of the higher peaks.

Playing into the friendly banter, Rannoch returned Terance's affectionate pat. "If the 'good stuff' is bison, I don't know if I'll be able to control myself!" In Rannoch's opinion, bison was a rare delicacy that trumped any other protein. A sudden craving touched the Iota's pallet as he listened to what Terance's reply was and he silently promised himself to scout out whatever caches he could find to see if they possessed the meal he now desired. 

Once the pair was done with the topic of food, the Delta re-introduced Liffey to their conversation, and Rannoch blushed instantly at the mention of her. His eyes followed the general direction where Terance beckoned to and for a moment, Rannoch's gaze lingered. "That looks like a promising spot," he remarked, turning his attention back to his packmate. "I was actually out here scouting for a spot for her, so that helps me a lot." There was a bashfulness about Rannoch, despite his best efforts to mask it, as he spoke about his intentions for his jaunt. "When I lead Northstar Vale, it was always my priority to help her find a spot and, now that we're here, I didn't want her to miss out on a place where she can do what she loves," Rannoch elaborated with a shrug of his shoulders; he hoped that did a decent job of explaining his intentions.

For quite some time, Rannoch and Terance talked about anything and everything as they became more acquainted with each other. They talked until the sun began to set; the afternoon had flown in the company of Rannoch's new friend. When Rannoch realized how late it was, he apologized for his need to suddenly depart and quickly turned heel to meet Liffey for dinner. He would make a point to spend more time with Terance in the coming days and would find himself patrolling often in the dark wolf's company.