Wolf RPG

Charon was hanging out around the rendezvous site, but as luck would have it, none of the pups were anywhere near (that he was aware of). They were growing older and so Charon decided it wasn't bad parenting, but giving your children space, to take some time for himself. It was nice to be able to just laze around without any screeching going on all around him, or triplets that were trying to make him confused about who was who.

When he saw Ame approach, Charon realised that it had been so long since they had spent time together, just the two of them. There had always been one or four pups in between them since they'd been born, and that'd been, what, five years? Well, probably just a bunch of months. But it felt like five years, he realised as she came walking towards him.

He rose to his feet and stretched his legs before trotting over, closing the last remaining distance between them and pressing his nose against her cheek, running down to her neck, breathing in her scent and enjoying the closeness for as long as it lasted without child interference.

She padded on and on, still undisturbed despite a wary watchfulness keeping her prepared for this to change. Especially here closing in on the rendezvous area, and prime puppy lurking territory. She knew better than to let the guards down. Although, it was a nice enough day out, and they all seemed to like to exercise their increasing freedoms.. so she let that thought bolster her hope just a bit.

When she did finally come upon Charon, it was reflexive to glance past him in the next beat. Still alone? So unusual, but her tail picked up an immediate, slow sway as he stretched and trotted closer.

She could settle so easily between just the two of them, and ran her muzzle through his pale furs much as he did to her own. After a soft nip, she eased back just enough so she could speak: "Enjoying the peace?" she arced a brow; they both knew this was an awfully rare commodity. "Seems almost suspicious," came with another glance around and she realized she'd spoken quietly as if to leave it undisturbed.

Instead of finding honest complaint in what was obviously a good thing for the two of them, she just sighed and nosed back at his furs, more than content to lean into the warmth of him. "Alya has informed me of an interest in scouting out and about with someone. You might have heard already, but if not.." Then he could now consider himself officially informed. She angled her snout to see if this seemed familiar to him, or how else he'd react.. meanwhile she really truly hoped that was Alya who'd presented her case to her not so long ago. As slippery as they all were about that, it wasn't even guaranteed she was pinning this on the right puppy. But the point remained. At least one of them wished to rove, and she harbored pretty good suspicion that another one was pressing the boundaries a bit too.

"I know, right, I'm kinda expecting puppies to pop out from everywhere any moment now." He looked around almost as if he expected it to happen, but it seemed that they were granted their peace for now. The moment felt wonderful, just to have a short space of time between them and to enjoy being together. It was the kind of thing one took for granted before having children, but now that they were there Charon was ever grateful for these moments.

He nodded as he was informed about Alya. He vaguely remembered something, but wasn't too sure. "Yeah, I heard something about that... She seems excited to become a scout." Well, both of her parents had been partial to scouting for some time so it was not that surprising; it was only really since they had settled with children that Charon had stopped leaving his mountain quite so often. He wished he could go out more, but it would have to wait until spring. Maybe then he could take Alya to scout.

Withdrawing his head so that he could look at her, Charon shared, "Flóki has been gone awfully long from his scout to the southwest.. I can't help but wonder if maybe something went wrong." He didn't think that it was time to immediately call out the scout troops and have everyone looking for him, but he could not deny that he missed his brother much and especially in this time of winter, the one wolf who'd been loyal to the pack from the beginning was sorely missed.

It was good to know that Alya would start towards the flatlands, areas that they knew and visited frequently. They were almost like an extention of Moonspear's pack lands, really. "Good, we'll be able to keep an eye on her there," he noted. It wasn't very convenient that it was winter, though. He'd rather she wait until it was spring, but if there was anything he knew about having — and being — children it was that they would do whatever the hell they pleased, anyway.

"Yeah, that would be nice. I hope he returns soon." Flóki would be the best candidate to send Alya with, so that her parents could keep an eye on the pack lands. Yet at the same time, Charon could also feel his own feet itch and ready to explore again. Maybe he could go. But if Flóki wasn't back soon, it might mean he could not be spared from the pack lands, either.

He was distracted from his thoughts by Ame's question, and he didn't respond right away. He still liked to think that Flóki would show up tomorrow. Saying that he would go after him were he not to return soon was like admitting that he was really gone, and Charon wasn't ready to do that yet. "He'll be back soon," he said, deciding to choose full-blown denial rather than a practical approach where he'd have to think ahead.

All in all, he agreed on all accounts and did his part to ease some of the worries she'd not even been fully aware of already. She sighed quietly, deciding to just silently let it settle with a soft nod of her own at first. Of course she was a bit distracted, thinking of Alya ranging out like Floki did one day in addition to him being missing at present. He held onto hope, it seemed, which looking at him brought her focus back onto now. "Yeah," she said, a little more subdued than before as she reached to nudge her muzzle against his. Ame lingered long enough to nip softly before she withdrew.

They'd had it good with Floki always being here with them. The absence smarted, and so, it was a lot easier to digest it by saying yes, he'll return soon. She couldn't even fully fathom how he may feel -- his brother, who had always been for as long as Floki had lived. As far as she'd known, they'd never been apart for any majorly lengthy span of time. "I hope the weather does not get in his way, somehow." She squinted thoughtfully. Teekon winters could be downright suspicious. She'd seen them run a whole range of conditions, from mild to worse and everything in between. This one was toeing a line she couldn't trust. They were due for it to get rough truthfully but she'd felt that way a while now -- kind of perpetually expecting something to go amiss, sooner or later, and thus planning how to deal with it best. "Ah, well. I do have faith in him," she added. In case the tone of her concerns seemed to suggest otherwise. He'd be back.

Charon nodded as Amekaze said that she hoped the weather would not get in Flóki's way. So far there hadn't been many signs of it, and so Charon wished to believe that his brother would be just fine. He would never leave on his own behalf, and Charon didn't think he'd let anything else get in his way, so why would this? "Whatever, Flóki will be fine," he said dismissively, with a hint of irritation in his voice because she was like the needle that was poking his subconscious saying, 'but what if he isn't fine?'. He wanted to believe that his brother was fine, and why shouldn't he? Flóki had always been fine, and he had always returned, even if the timing with the winter wasn't the best. But despite their dwindling numbers, their caches were filled because they had had so many members before, so he was not too worried.

"We shouldn't be worrying, he can take care of himself." Instead, he'd rather do something fun now that they had a moment alone. But he realised as he tried to think of something fun to do that he was very out of practise with fun things. The only things he could think of were all practical things — hunting, patrolling, checking the territory, or even looking out for any of the girls so they could have fun or teach them something new while he wanted to do something fun because they weren't here in the first place — and he looked a little perplexed at that.

 

Charon decided briefly to himself that Flóki would just be out scouting until he was back. It was part of his job. He wouldn't tell the girls he was gone if he didn't come back. He'd be back, when he was done scouting. That was the way it was. Fleetingly he thought about Levi... But he couldn't, not for too long, for he was not yet ready to believe that Flóki might not return.

Ame's distractions came at the right moment to wash away these distressing thoughts. Unaware of anyone watching, Charon was quick to follow when Ame suddenly detached and moved away. He felt playful, but withheld from making too much noise in case it might draw unwanted attention. He adored his daughters, but just not right now.

In contrary to his mate, Charon didn't feel like the pups were near, or watching him, at all. It was easy enough to set them aside and forget they existed, if only for a little while, to have some alone time with Amekaze. He therefore didn't notice anything or anyone — he just wasn't thinking of anything else than Amekaze in that moment.

As the pace quickened he followed. She bumped her shoulder against his and he answered with a playful growl rumbling in his throat and a snap at her flank.

She kept her distance. Hydra even let them race further up ahead without intervening further. Hydra wanted them to gain plenty of space between them... and then, she howled for @Alya and @Lyra. This would be of no shock to any on this mountain, as the triplets often called to one another when they, rarely, separated. She waited for them to find her, crouched low and hidden well. She and her sisters had been permitted to observe hunts, and they often practiced on objects that could not best them. But as she prowled after her parents, she was reminded of how they themselves prowled after prey... and grew excited by the latest development she had created within her and her sisters game.

It was usually for good reason, when they were apart. The dark princess was not entirely sure where Lyra had gone to, but she was sure that her sister could be located without too much trouble. The Cerberus always knew where its other heads were. Alya herself was up on a ledge, staring out at the flat expanse of land that laid between Moonspear and the mountain range across from her. Somewhere out there was a dark boy with lantern-lit eyes, and Alya wished fiercely in that moment that she could find him as easily as she could find her sisters.

But nothing was more important than her sisters, so when the middle head called for them, Alya was quick to abandon her post. And, as she always did when approaching her sisters, the dark princess dropped into a silent slink as she drew near. Often, they were called to each other's aide to perform mischief, and Alya didn't want to ruin whatever plans Hydra had for them.

Charon barely registered the howl that went up for Hydra's sisters, for he was so used to hearing them call for one another. He grinned as she swayed her flank out the way, enjoying their play as always — it always made him feel like they were made for each other, because somehow they complemented each other so well in it. When one would ask Charon what attracted him in Amekaze in the first place, truthfully the only reason that he had ever hooked up was because they ruled together and that was just how Alphaship worked in his eyes, and it was beneficial for their future and that of the pack. But in time it had grown into something more, something he could not express in words. It felt like forever they were together to him, for it was a little under half his life so far to him, at nearly a year. Regardless of his mishaps, he adored her, and he would make sure that he never knew about any of the mistakes because in the grand scheme of things, they simply did not matter like her and their children.

He followed and regretted that it was not her heat just yet, for he intended their next pups to be born in spring and they were alone at last for now. It would have been perfect if the timing had been better.

Suddenly she turned towards him, her stature proud, one of the things he loved about her. A playful growl rumbled in his throat again as she butted her head against his shoulder. He nibbled the fur along her neck lovingly until she pulled back to look at his face. There was a questioning look on her face and her ears tilted around, but Charon didn't even realise what she was looking for. To him, a moment without pups was a moment without pups, and he had near forgotten their existence by now, so he didn't realise the possibility that they could come scrambling in any moment — nor did he even consider she might be checking if they were.

 

Alya came first. This was of no surprise to Hydra, who grinned in a diabolical manner toward her right-hand. Lyra, Hydra was certain, would be here in no time—and would assimilate into their activity wordlessly, understanding perfectly what was to occur. They were each perfectly symbiotic. They could begin, and begin they did, Hydra sniffing at the tracks her eager parents had left behind. Her movements were perfectly feline in nature, strides long and graceful as she prowled, leading the way with bright eyes. Hydra's ears fanned forward, listening for movements her parents would be making as she mutely picked up the pace. They did not have too much ground to cover.

While Hydra practiced her tracking, Alya practiced being Hydra. When Lyra arrived, she would fall back into her born role as Alya - for the Cerberus functioned best with its three separate heads - but for now, it could do no harm. Two Hyrdas were as good as a Hydra-and-Alya pair. (None of the heads were greater than another, for all that they lauded their dominant sister.)

And, either way, it served the Cerberus for Alya to know how to fall into her other two roles. She was not as practiced as Hydra at grace and motion, and so, while Hydra tracked, Alya tried to mimmick the feline grace with which she did so.

The way that she looked at him struck a chord, as it always did, caused a lump in his throat and made him realise how much he cared for her. She and the pups were his family, and he would be with them for as long as he could. For him the playtime was enough and with a nip to her flank he invited her further along the mountainside until he found a ledge where they could sit and watch the lands below or the magnificent skies above while they rested and revelled in their favourite pasttime: silently spending time together, be it in competitive play or simply being together.

Soon enough, Lyra was with them. And the three of them were closing in on their targets. Hydra knew they only needed to turn the proverbial corner for them to be upon their parents... and Hydra led the charge! The three of them dashed onto the scene, and there their parents were, near a ledge. Hydra stopped well before that, but gave a triumphant little grin. We win, Hydra said with glee, nipping her sisters with her typical rough fondness: good job, team. 

And then she turned on her heel. She wasn't much in the mood for spending time with her parents, fortunately for them. One simple ear flick was all that was given to her sisters that meant, without saying, lets go; and a shifty glance to them would tell them Hydra had something else for them to do, before she bounded off.

Alya burst out alongside Hydra, giving a few loud, boisterous barks just to ruin whatever mood her parents had been in. Before she was really done parading herself, Hydra began to slink away. Cutting her gloating short, she turned and bounded swiftly after her sisters, excited to get on to the next thing on their agenda.