Moonspear and fight until it's yours

@Korei Julia (:

today brought energy in small bursts. terance had done an extraordinary amount of things in comparison to the previous weeks, and by now all he wanted to do was stargaze. he hadn't done so-- for real-- in a while... and he knew that he promised a date with lyra but it had been so long ago that terance didn't think it'd be a good idea to bring it up. he'd already decided she didn't think of him like that, and he really didn't want to put a huge bit of effort into anything if it'd only harm the friendship they had now. 

so he sat alone on the cliffs, staring up into the sky, his tail still on the ground behind him. the stars seemed so dull tonight-- he didn't know why-- but they just weren't as exciting as they usually were. his brows furrowed, frustrated, but the yearling continued to find his most treasured constellations, hoping the haze that hung around would lift.

Korei spotted a wolf she hadn't met personally, at least not for a while. And when they had, he had comforted her after the 'loss' of Korei's younger sister, Galaxy. "Terance?" she asked aloud as she approached from behind, coming up beside him. She wasn't sure if that was his name, as it had been a while.

"It's um, it's me. Korei...I never said thank you, did I?" she asked. "For when you comforted me after Galaxy fell...I've gotten in better touch with Hydra and Papa since then." His words had really encouraged her.

he stared for a while, connecting invisible lines to the dots and imagining his own image atop the shape they drew. but even so, whatever excitement the activity usually gave him got lost in the fog. a voice, quiet and almost anxious-- most certainly uncertain-- drew him from his gazing, and his green gaze settled upon the pale wolf that was none other than korei. he nodded to her, and she introduced herself, though she didn't have to. while she seemed uncertain about who he was, her voice turned up at the end of his name, like a question, he was quite positive who she was. the pair didn't interact often-- in fact the last time he'd seen the white sheep she'd been blamed for the death of her sister, but terance was good with names, good for his habit of holding grudges, and he easily remembered her. "i remember," he said encouragingly. 

"you don't have to thank me," he added with a gentle shrug of his shoulders, "you weren't in the wrong." he wasn't sure hydra had mentioned being close with korei, but he'd heard less and less from her about what useless scum korei was-- so terance could perhaps see that they'd grown closer. he forced a smile, realizing he probably looked quite dull, and motioned for her to join him. "you're a naturalist, right?" he asked, already kind of knowing the answer. maybe they could talk star stuff together, maybe that'd help.

and he didn't mind the company, truthfully.

Korei looked Terance over as he answered back to her. "Ah, that's good" she said. Glad that he remembered, while she did not remember. "But your words gave me encouragement, and I tried standing up for myself. Now, here I am." Even if she had been yelled at along the way and ridiculed, she got there in the end.

"If you mean stargazing, then yes! I love it, looking up at the stars above" she answered confidently. She sat down when he motioned for her to join him.

for some reason, whatever korei said resinated with him. "here you are," he repeated, kind of quiet, kind of on accident. he didn't have much time to reflect on what she'd said, or why the words rang in his ears, because she joined him straight away and started talking again. conversation, he had to continue a conversation. 

though something still nipped at the back of his mind, he tilted his dark crown back, nose pointed at the sky. "astronomy," he tacked on, almost in agreement. that's what he did too, and astrology-- of sorts-- though terance wasn't exactly the best at reading star sign, osprey hadn't been able to teach him much of that. "do you have a favorite constellation?" he asked, taking a quick glance back down at korei.

She didn't notice the repeat in words, taken by the stars. Terance asked what her favorite was. And with every time someone asked that, she shrugged. She was not sure, not at all. "All of them. Too many to pick from, they are all so beautiful. Just...how they light up the sky." She sighed happily, she was always glad to see the stars.

korei's answer earned a small smile from terance-- but he also kind of hated that answer. sure everything was great, but could she not think of one that just like... called to her? okay maybe not that corny, or whatever, but still? "i like virgo," he announced, even though korei did not ask if he had a favorite. his cheeks flushed, remembering a certain event that made him so fond of virgo, and he glanced to his companion. "that's your star-sign, i think," he told her with a flick of his ears down towards his crown.

Korei listened to his answer, she couldn't think much on that one. She had heard of it. But to her, it didn't mean much. Not until Terance added on. "My...star sign?" She had never been told of her star sign, at least not as far as she could remember. "What's yours? Do you have a star sign?"

terance nodded as she repeated the word, and then again when she asked if he had one. "taurus," he answered, glancing down at her once again, "the bull." he took a few silent moments to piece together a brief explanation on astrological signs, she could make him tell her more after if she so desired. "star-signs correspond to the time of year you're born. you can tell a lot about someone by their star sign-- and make like predictions about them based on the position of the planets and stars and some other stuff," he explained, ears cupping forward.

Korei was most curious about this now. She wondered what her star sign meant. And, since Terance had spoke of them to her, she thought he had the answers. "What does mine mean? And yours, taurus?" She briefly wondered about predictions about herself, though she didn't think too much into that part of astronomy. Only the stars themselves.

terance knew far more about actual constellations than he did anything else... but he was lightly briefed on the subject of astrology. he at least could line up birthdays and star-signs and give some vague, one-answer-fits-all kind of predictions. he wished olive-- or had she changed it? he forgot-- had stuck around, something about her made him think that she would've been well versed in astrology.

in other news, terance had no idea that korei was technically a leo... something about lyra had made him say virgo, and so he pinned all of the sisters as virgos... whoops.

"virgo means... nice lady, i think, feminine-- at least that's what my mom said. taurus is a bull," he told her (and repeated his own). his own gaze turned back to the sky, trying to pinpoint some of the key sky element things... that he knew were important in predictions, then he looked back at korei. "or did you mean you wanted to know your prediction?" he asked, paused, did a little roll of his shoulders, "horoscope, it's called."

Korei giggled lightly. "I guess I am a bit of a 'nice lady'" she said. She saw herself as very nice, as in kind. And a bit feminine, perhaps. "So...wait, what's a bull?" She had no idea what a bull was. 

To Terance's question, she nodded. "What is mine? And what is yours? I've never heard of star signs before." She didn't care much for it, but she did at least want to know. Just in case something like that came up in a conversation.

"it's like.. a really fat... deer, kind of, i've never seen one, that's just how my mom explained it," he explained, brow furrowed. she'd actually called it a cow, but terance hadn't known what that was either-- he doubted korei would have even the slightest clue. deer was familiar.

"i'm not very good," he began, a quick disclaimer in case her whole next day went spiraling out of control, "and you shouldn't take them so seriously, the stars are important and all that but... i mean your day is what you make of it." he took another moment to view the stars, took a quick breath and... woof. virgo was ruled by mercury, he remembered that-- focus on mercury.

"so remember the other day there was that super huge moon?" he started, giving her a quick glance, "the planet mercury moved out of phase for the signs... uh, sector, on that day. from that... i'd say you should be looking after yourself." he squinted, that felt right, something about stress or like... a poor alliance, but as far as he was concerned korei didn't do much business with others. "make sure you're putting your own needs before others for a little while... and there's a stress on miscommunication from mercury's distance, make sure you're clear with your own and others needs."

was that everything? was that even accurate?? he glanced to korei. "that's what i gathered from it, at least."

Korei tipped her head, she was mildly saddened to hear that he wasn't very good at such things, like predictions and star readings. And his description of a bull was...interesting, to say the least. The thought of a big fat deer almost made her salivate. "The stars are all I look at..." she murmured quietly. In her mind, they were always there. Always something to look forward to. 

She nodded. "So...put my own needs before others?" That went against her kind nature, she wanted to help ever since she met Pyx, to put others before herself. So hearing this, it made her think about herself. A bit too deeply into it. "I've always wanted to help others, though." Now that she thought about it, she had been helping others so much, she never really thought of how others could help her. She never really demanded help, not for some time.

"nah that's... not what that means," he said, shifting his shoulders to figure out how to properly describe it to her. "it's like a personal health thing-- ya know? like, if someones just being a total dick to you, looking after yourself means cutting them from your life."  that felt like a better explanation... maybe. terance didn't know how to explain that to someone-- she took it so literally, he didn't mean for her to take it that literally. he hoped that made sense though.

Korei tipped her head a bit more, a bit confused. Then she understood, with an 'o' motion of her mouth. Then Terance said a word that she hadn't heard before. "What's a dick?" she said rather blatantly. "Sounds like a mean word" she then said, and by her tone it would be easy to understand, she did not like mean words.

wwwwwhhhoooppps terance felt his face heat up right away. the only answer he had was a blunt statement of a few other synonyms for the word. instead, he opted to completely ignore everything that his gut was telling him to say and instead let out an awkward chuckle. "i guess it is sort of mean. jerk, it's like another word for jerk," he explained, deciding if she went around and started saying the word dick without knowing what it truly means-- that's her own fault. someone else would explain it to her.

Korei frowned. Jerk, she knew that word. "Well, I don't like dick, then. It's a mean word" she stubbornly replied. "Jerk's a mean word too, like loser and screw up." She didn't like to admit it, but she still felt a bit hurt by that fight she had with Papa. And everytime she heard words like that, she couldn't help but hear him saying those. To her.

right away, terance could think of like 3 jokes that probably would've gotten a good laugh out of hydra of rannoch (though truthfully, he wasn't sure how well versed anyone was in that neck of the woods), but decided that korei would not think they were nearly as funny. or even understand them, for that matter. he choked them down, letting out a throaty cough, before nodding. he missed the pain that korei felt behind those other two words-- loser and screw up-- he didn't realize they held so much weight, and instead just continued along.

"ya, well i guess you don't have to use those words," he told her with a shrug, then, reluctantly (because terance himself had no filter) added, "i won't use them either." when i'm around you...

Korei smiled at that. "Thank you" she replied, glad he wouldn't use those words around him. Then she went back to looking at the stars. And just sat there silently, stargazing to the darkened, star-speckled sky. She was starting to see Terance as a good friend, nothing more than that. Another friend to her list of friends.

woof, glad he avoided all that mess-- and glad that korei seemed so at peace-- terance gave her a light nudge on the cheek and turned his own attention back to the stars. he didn't feel better, necessarily, but something in his crumbling mental state seemed to put itself back into place. 

the pair stargazed for a while longer, terance managed to point out a few shooting stars, even, until he grew too tired to continue on. he said his goodnight and made his way to where he'd been taking shelter lately. though he didn't fall asleep immediately, he fell asleep-- and that was a good sign.