Moonspear written in the sand

boy howdy i'll tell ya what, terance was in a swing. his blood was pumping and his heart was racing-- his adrenaline had yet to settle just yet-- he and @Hydra had spotted a cougar on their evening patrol. terance was pretty sure it was looking for somewhere to die, because it looked horrible. it sort of hobbled when it walked and it's frame was so thin he was surprised it was even up walking.

after a little bit of discussion, the deadly duo decided they could handle the ratty ol' thing themselves, and took off down the mountain to tell it to scram! it was probably pretty damn smart despite it's condition, because as soon as it saw two dark wolves bulleting towards it, it tried to make a break for it, but they were a little faster and far more able-bodied.

the whole ordeal went really smoothly, actually. the beast went down and was so frail it really didn't even put up a fight. that is, of course, except for one tiny hiccup which included the damn thing getting a good swipe at hydra's shoulder. it was nothing fatal or even worrisome, really, but still something. so when the damn thing finally croaked (they probably did it a favor, if we're being honest), they grabbed hold of it and carried it off to the nearest cache before shuffling off to one of the herb stores to get something for hydra's shoulder.

unfortunately, lyra was nowhere to be found-- which was disappointing for a number of reasons. but not to fear! terance assured hydra he was positive he remembered which herbs lyra gave to him as painkillers, and jammed a few of the cobwebs that were laying around on the cut. perfect, he'd bragged, though it was rough at best.

he slid hydra the herbs he was positive were the right ones, tail tapping against the ground. damn, maybe he should pursue healing as a trade-- he seemed to have a knack for it.

Her shoulder smarted from the assault, though not so badly where it caused her to limp. That was a good sign, it meant it was not deep and so would not scar. Still, movement ached—and no doubt the cougar had given her some other bruises to worry about later. The pain now was relatively severe, more severe than any scrap she had gotten in with a wolf—but truth be told, she couldn't think of a time where any wolf had landed a significant blow on her other than when she had been a kid and that lone wolf had torn her ear. 

So, this hurt like nothing she had remembered. 

The pain was a nice distraction from the mental pain she had endured. In fact, this was just what she needed in order to let that pain go. Not only that, but Terance touted his memory skills, leading Hydra to believe that in mere minutes she would feel zero pain. At all. What a day. 

As he uncovered the plants, Hydra didn't really question him; after all, he too had swallowed some in withdrawing it. She and Terance had been best friends for as long as she could remember, it felt like—and so she scarfed down the medicine he had provided. With the cobwebs he had found staunching the bleeding, Hydra slid to her belly. Between her paws was the cougar skull; she and her sisters liked to keep the skulls of the foes they had killed, but for themselves. They made for the best chew toys and were also pretty cool looking. There was still some skin attached to it, and Hydra remarked: it's a bad day to be this cougar, before she began gnawing on it, her fang working at the attached skin. She bet the stuff was working its magic now—things seemed to be becoming comfortably fuzzy.

terance followed suite, sliding onto his stomach and watching as hydra began to gnaw on the skull. he was a little jealous she had a bone to gnaw on-- he'd admit that-- but she had a boo boo shoulder, so he wouldn't complain. besides, it was his own fault for not grabbing one before they dropped it in the cache. phooey.

he gave a little snort at hydra's comment, tail tapping against the ground. "no kidding," he replied, chuckling, his nose twitching, "are ya feelin' alright?" 

The longer she gnawed on it, the more fuzzier things became—but in a pleasant, rose gold, peach fuzz kind of way. Her eyes turned toward Terance as he spoke—his voice was melodious and warm, like syrup but without the sticky aspect of it. She hummed as she removed her fangs from the skull, placing a possessive paw over it that slid haphazardly off. It remained between her forelegs, but she did not seem to notice. 

Feelin' good, she declared—and also, heavy. She rolled on her 'good' side, an ear twitching. Feelin' great. How you feelin'? She asked. The earth here felt positively soft, and Hydra lifted her head only to place it back to the earth again. Wow. Wow, Terance—would you feel this grass? There is no better grass in the world than Moonspear has. Feel it, she urged, rubbing her snout against it.

slowly, terance began to realize that hydra was becoming more and more... lazy? that wasn't the right word. she was just sort of sloppy-- but so absolutely perky. she was being goofy, for sure, earning a broad grin from the young redleaf-disarrino. though, he was confused, especially as she began to talk. he watched as she rolled to her side, rubbing herself all over the grass. his ears pricked, head cocking to one side. grass didn't feel that good-- did it? hydra wasn't one to lie... 

hesitantly, terance following her lead, leaning over to rub his cheek on the grass... and again, just for good measure. but nope-- felt like normal grass to him. still confused-- but also amused, watching now as the corner of her lip caught against the grass as she rubbed. he chuckled, head falling to the other side. "hy are you--" he paused mid question, because he suddenly realized what was going on. it was the herb-- it had to be-- because though lyra gave him some pretty low-key stuff for his injuries, he did totally remember being given medicine that knocked him out cold. he just couldn't remember which was which-- just that he remembered eating it. he must've mixed them up.

but he'd been super injured when he took them... and probably with other stuff, maybe this was just... it's normal effect? oh he suddenly felt really bad. had he accidentally drugged his friend? the beta? oh shit. his smile turned suddenly very stiff-- what should he do? was there a right way to go about this? well maybe... he could just... join in... that sounded reasonable? or was that stupid? probably stupid, but watching her rub her face all over the ground kinda made him jealous... he wanted to feel that. "whoa," he said, eyes shifting, "you're totally right-- super soft, hey, you know what, i've got a scratch i'm gonna just like go get something for it really quickly give me a moment." 

terance returned moments later, herbs swallowed and ready for action. he plopped himself down in front of hydra and stared, squinting, waiting. "still feeling okay?" he asked.

Hydra opened one eye to observe her friendshine following suit. Pleased by this, she continued about her business. Everything felt nice, now—and as Terance spoke about having an itch to scratch with something, she paid him no mind for the minute. Normally she would have called him out on that making zero sense, but in this moment it made all the sense in the world to her. 

He was back in no time, anyhow. She had stopped her movements because when she had gotten up to glance at something she had become especially cognizant of her tail. It had been waving, but stilled as she stared at it—the presence of Terance brought it to movement again, and her head snapped in that direction. Hydra lurched after it, springing messily to all fours, and circled loosely three times before losing balance and cackling. Whew. There was that good ol' grass again. You feelin' this grass????

hydra seemed hardly disturbed by his exit and entry, which was good, because he really didn't have the words to explain it. he watched her, curiously, that fuzzy feeling slowly beginning to creep up on him. it started at his toes, slowly working up to his chest. it was warm-- he felt warm. then, suddenly, hydra was on the move, lunging after something (terance missed that action, he was too focused on his own thoughts). she circled and rolled and then came crashing back to the ground and, suddenly, terance was right there with her. 

"graaasss..." he repeated slowly, sniffing up some dirt and wiggling his chest into it. he looked like he was flattening himself to the earth-- limbs pressed sloppily to the ground. then, he snorted-- pretty loudly-- "wait, hy, shit... i'm a rock," he announced, giggling at his own realization.

Hydra grinned at her friend, tail beating against the earth. At his inspection, Hydra, without looking to him, said with a grin: well, duh, cause you rock, Hydra smirked. Puns. She definitely had them in her; they were her best-kept secret, no doubt. Hydra rolled onto her belly and drew closer to Terance. He had known exactly what to do to ease her mind; they had gone cougar hunting. 

You're my best friend, she observed aloud, something she likely would not have said were she in the right mindset. Not because she did not mean it, but because it went without saying. Closer to him now, she once again moved to the unaffected side and grinned. This is great. This is so great. Everything feels great, she observed with a laugh, rolling onto her back. The stars!

terance snorted again. "no, you're my best friend," he huffed with a wiggle of his butt. as an afterthought, very boredly, the rock added, "rannoch is my best friend too, but you're my beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessst friend." just to clarify. 

he followed her onto his back, paws folding into his chest and hind legs sprawled all around. "stars," he repeated chirpily, tail still wagging. there was so much to think about-- staring up at those stars. and yet terance could only think warm. he felt warm, saw warm, thought warm. warm thoughts. he breathed in a deep breathe. "one day you're gonna be old and in charge and with a buff ass man and some buff ass kids and your life is gonna be rad," he told her. a sincere compliment.