Moonspear i feel sexy when i dance

@Amekaze ? :D

After the bear incident, Charon was fuming with anger. He'd gone off on his own afterwards while he evaluated what had happened and ran off the rage that he felt, but it did not take long before he realised that he needed Amekaze to talk this over. Feeling a little calmer the next day, Charon sought out Amekaze.

He followed her scent until he reached a densite of sorts. He wasn't sure if she'd taken a break and had left or she was still here, but called out: "Ame? You there?" Hoping that she was either in the den or somewhere nearby, like his nose was telling him. They really desperately needed to talk about the bear debacle, and the insubordination of some (or more specifically, one) of their wolves.

Bleary eyed, she uncurled herself, arose from the densite and greeted Charon with a low rumble of a sleepy hello. Mhm she almost managed to say, although sight of her was confirmation enough that indeed she was here. She took a beat to regain her surroundings properly then since she'd landed here sometime after storming about the upper slopes until exhaustion gave her no choice. It really wasn't her usual place to rest, just the nearest spot that worked well enough. She'd been feeling particularly sour after the bear fiasco so hadn't been in a picky sort of way when she'd settled in to rest here.

Still, she stretched slowly and gently eased herself into a better state of awareness for him, but these things took time. She folded her haunches into a sit, curled her tail around them, and had a feeling she knew what the subject matter would entail. She wasn't happy about the events that had transpired, either.

Good, Ame was here. She looked groggy, either because of waking up just now or because she felt equally frustrated with the events that had transpired as he did. Charon imagined that Ame saw much of the problems the same way he did; insubordination was a big part of it, as well as communication between himself and Ame in crisis situations.

"Figured we should talk about the bear situation," Charon said, though he was not referring to the present situation (he didn't even consider what a drastic problem the pair of bears might end up being in the future). "And about how Nishu seems to think he's the fucking leader of this pack, or whatever. Has he always had an attitude and authority problem, or just since you got an Alpha male by your side?" Charon thought back to their first meeting — at the time something he figured would pass once he gave Charon a chance and saw how awesome he was; but now he was beginning to think that day might never come, because Nishu just refused to give him any chances.

She blinked slowly and took this in quietly. With a subject of no surprise, her expression was unmoved aside from a furrow that steadily deepened as she was forced to recall it all, too. It was obvious that they'd all had various reactions to the bear, and then the fanfare that surrounded it all.,  None of them had managed to come together cohesively. All the indecision and misdirection had grown old fast.

She decided to address the Nishu matter first of all, and shook her head softly. He'd never really presented to her like he meant to lead. He'd existed low on the Sunspire totem pole, largely because she wasn't sure how much of a wolf of the mountain he really aspired to be. At times she wondered if he was only going through the motions of being one, out of some deeply rooted devotion to Rain.. Maybe it didn't translate well to here.. "He has been mindful of my lead. Different, at times.. but not often around towards the last weeks of the Spire," she sighed. Perhaps something had changed and having an alpha male around only made him saltier. Frankly she'd not interacted with him all that much since returning Rain home, besides his showing at the bear incident. "Aside from with the bear situation, you have had other issues?" she asked, suspicious that there was more than what she had seen personally. If not, she did understand it had been quite obnoxious to say one thing then charge in, metaphorical guns blazing, after she had already retreated mainly because there were none to stand beside her.

Charon didn't enjoy telling anyone about what happened with Nishu. Really, he should've just wooped Nishu's ass when that had happened, but since he was newly crowned king of the mountain at the time and was still recovering from the fight with Dante, Charon had been afraid he could've been bested. Not that he'd ever admit to being too afraid to put subordinates in their place, of course. Ame asked if there had been anything else that happened though, and so Charon nodded.

Feeling himself calm a little, Charon told Ame: "On one of the first days after we claimed the mountain, I ran into Nishu. He startled me, so I got defensive and told him to stand down. Then all of a sudden he started telling me I wasn't an Alpha, and he kept on at it until I eventually managed to talk him down by reminding him that he wasn't a real knight either, the way he was acting like a haughty pup and disrespecting his superiors. I had to grit my teeth pretty much that day not to immediately tell him to get the fuck out of my pack — our pack." Charon smiled at Ame as he added: "You are the only reason he's still a part of this." You'd think he would learn, Charon thought to himself, after their earlier altercation. But at the bear attack he'd once more tried to seize the lead and defy authority.

Her muzzle wrinkled a little and she listened. She didn't bother to hold in the sigh, for it was frustrating, and perhaps unnervingly unsuspected. The packs had experienced quite a lot of change quickly, but if they intended to stay here with it, she wanted them to at least behave for the greater good. She'd wondered if it was only a matter of time before someone came complaining about Charon's inexperience.. However, she had no empathy for them. No one at the Sunspire had ever shown an ounce of motivation when it came to leading alongside her after Jace had stepped down. The chance had been there, clear as day, and if they were going to find fault with the one wolf who did want to make the pack stronger in that way, then she'd have little patience. "He will need to respect you, then.. if he hopes to stay a part of this," she grated. Charon was the real alpha, and on these grounds, would be treated as such.

Peeved now that she knew this, she shifted her weight. "He has never voiced these opinions around me, but I have not been with him much recently aside from with the bear." She frowned, knowing she wouldn't need to explain why that had bothered her. There hadn't exactly been a place to enforce not acting foolish when there had been so much chaos already.. and two bears. "The Rain being lost incident still has his head all scrambled up somehow, I think." Not that it was an excuse or a valid explanation for all the bullshitting about, but an issue here that she'd need to address soon or else this could only escalate further. She fell back her ears, annoyance clear since she was not the least bit motivated to try to understand it fully. Rain and Nishu were some complicated entity to her, not something she could really put words on.

Charon enjoyed the fact that Amekaze was annoyed with Nishu, too. He hadn't doubted that she would take his side of this argument — after all, if she didn't think him suited as Alpha, she wouldn't have said yes to his proposition — but it was good to know she felt the same as he did about their pack mate. As far as Charon was concerned, Nishu had a lot of proving himself to do if he intended to stay a part of Moonspear. Before they'd be able to take the bear problem on, they'd need to chat with Nishu. Charon assumed that Ame would pick that up, since Nishu respected her more at the moment (or so he assumed). He nodded at Ame's words and added: "He needs to get his shit together soon if he intends to stay here." Their pack was flourishing and Charon would have no qualms with showing Nishu the door if he couldn't patch whatever bothered him in a timely fashion.

"We also need to take care of those bears," Charon continued. "I haven't got a plan for how just yet, but we should kill 'em." Bears had taken too much from Charon to let them meander about his home. They needed to device a plan to get rid of them for once and for all, and soon.

She wanted them to get it all together and sort out their differences fast. Her patience on the matter was not lengthy and she believed it was between them. It was important that respect was given, and earned, proper. She didn't want to see them at odds, or lose wolves because of it.. especially not with winter looming. She didn't have a whole lot else to say on that, but hoped that Charon's judgements would be sound and just should he need to cast them.. which, again, she did wish to avoid and this was a consideration she'd keep in the back of her mind in the meanwhile. Her focus shifted to bears, then.

"Before they hibernate, too. I would prefer to not have cranky bears around come springtime," she sighed. To her, it seemed like their hibernations were going to be starting late.. but she was no expert on bears Perhaps due to the relatively mild weather and plentiful resources. It still made her wary, though, because it felt like only a matter of time before they started impacting them even more directly than they already were. She prickled at the thought of them cleaning out one of their caches. "I think.. with a bit of organization, and coming at it at once.. we could definitely take one down so long as the other was nowhere near," she said, making it clear she had been thinking about this too. They had warriors, but also the portion of the pack with preexisting bear trauma, and those who were not as seasoned as the others when it came to staring at danger like that. Rain being injured did put them down a warrior, so there was also that, but she was still feeling confident they could do some damage if they only worked together.

Charon knew shit-all about bears and hibernation, but he just nodded as if he knew what she was talking about when Ame mentioned this. Apparently it was something bears did in winter. "Don't worry, we'll take care of 'em before then," Charon said confidently, even though he hadn't felt confident at all when he had stood in front of the one bear — let alone have to face two.

When Ame spoke of organisation, Charon said: "Maybe we should assign someone fast that could distract one of the bears while the rest of the pack attacks the other?" He agreed they should be able to best it with all of them; when Jace and Thistle'd joined in that day not long ago, Charon had actually thought they could kill it. It was only because of the second that they had not.

Charon was surprisingly confident, but she was not yet inspired to feel quite the same. She 'mm-ed' softly. While not worried about the bears themselves in any excessive way beyond disgusted annoyance, she was more concerned about their ability to actually succeed in doing something about them. Their last showing in the face of the ursine invaders did little to inspire faith in her, and she worried they'd need more time to understand their foes and build their own strengths so they could be effective.. time they didn't have with winter to concern themselves with.

She exhaled a slow sigh, but the gears were turning. "That could work. It would be best if we could just catch them well separated but I do not know if that is possible yet." Maybe they were always near each other -- she just did not know yet. She did worry about sending someone alone against a bear like that as distraction bait. They had their fast wolves, sure, but were they brave enough to be make it work? "But if nothing else, I am fast.." she proposed, a cant to her head along with it. "I want to observe them.. track them, see where they like to go and find out where we are most likely to get a good ambush in. But, I am not sure if we will the time for as much as I would like. We may just have to.. go for it the second we see a chance."

Charon was ever-confident, as he was about most things — he didn't even consider things might go horribly awry with the bears if they worked together. There was a gnawing feeling at the back of his mind which replayed Atreyu's leg disconnecting from his body over and over, but it didn't matter, now. They had a strong pack, not the bunch of ragtags they had at Stavanger Bay. They would manage.

"Even if we manage to catch them separately, it's probably best to have a wolf at the ready to distract the second one, should it come," said Charon. He liked Ame's suggestion of spying on the bears to find out how they moved, to find out if they were always together and maybe it would also be easier to catch one alone then. He nodded and smiled to signify he thought it a good idea. "That's a good idea, to observe them for a while so we can learn about them, so we'll know where to hit 'em." Charon figured he could come too, if he happened upon Ame while she tracked them. Unless she wanted to go right now — he was ready for anything.

To have any sort of plan going into this was sure to end better than their first encounter. "I think so too," she agreed. She was still trying to sort apart the details of it -- namely, who would be best to serve as their distraction. Ame had a feeling that once that was decided, she'd feel more certain about its effectiveness in the long run.. even if to her, it was best that it not be a necessary tactic at all. Instead, a back-up plan for if things did not fall neatly into place. "So long as we have someone ready to be an effective distraction, no matter how it goes exactly.." Part of why she almost wanted the duty for herself despite the rich appeal in ripping into the other bear alongside the rest of the pack. 

Anyway, she hardly knew where they spent their time, or what it was that had brought them here. Naturally, she guessed resources -- and probably food, as such was the motivation of many creatures this time of year. "Observing them will help a lot, I believe.." she sighed, shaking out her fur and stretching her front legs before steadying herself again. All this talk of bears was beginning to make her physically restless. "Starting at the riverside seems like the best bet," she motioned roughly towards where it had all started before beginning to walk that way. She knew their time was limited, so might as well not waste it.

It pleased Charon that Amekaze immediately sprang into action. He waited patiently while she stretched and as she came into motion in the direction she had mentioned earlier, Charon followed suit, falling in step beside her. Surely they would pick up the scents of the bears there and be able to track them down further. As soon as they got into motion, Charon's nose was at the ready, and he kept a close eye and sniff on his environment to try and pick up the bears' scent so they could get on tracking.

Meanwhile he wondered aloud: "Do you have any family? I mean, that still lives somewhere around here?" He was pretty sure that none of the Sunspire wolves had been Ame's family, and that left him to wonder if she had any family left. Hadn't she like, mentioned a brother when they'd both been at the Sunspire? He thought to remember so, but since he'd never met aforementioned brother Charon wasn't really too sure.

She took a few stretching strides to loosen her muscles then gradually gained speed. Charon was not far behind then at her side not long after, and she lent him an ear while her nose did most of the other thinking. The river was her general destination, but she knew this could change. 

She was rather content to stew on the bears and the hopeful bad things to come their way, but his question derailed this. "No, most were dead even before I left the homelands," she answered. By now, she suspected even her mother to have succumbed to age as well. Her father probably still persisted since he was younger, along with any potential siblings born after she had gone. But she didn't know them and Rikudou wolves did have notoriously low survival rates.. usually because like her litter, they killed each other off. "The only brother that was here briefly faded away without a word before we moved. He hardly was here, though, and I had always thought of him as dead before that anyway." She sighed, although explained matter-of-factly. "Why do you ask?" she asked and peered at him over her shoulder since it wasn't a topic many went for.

It must be weird for Ame not to have had much family for a while, Charon thought. He remembered the mention of a brother a while ago at the Sunspire, but had never met said brother. Perhaps he had departed again. To her inquiry he said: "Well, despite what I've lost I have quite a lot of family here, still, with one of my siblings returning not long ago, even. It's gotta be strange not to really have any family left." Charon offered Amekaze a rarely sympathetic smile, and then added: "But I suppose pack's family, too." It wasn't the exact same, but she had wolves to be with, at least. Charon nudged her shoulder shortly, because though she seemed not to be overly emotional about her lack of family and she had the pack, it still seemed sympathetic enough to offer support.

Charon sniffed the air, though still not finding any trace of the bears, as they moved on.

She was indifferent and rolled her shoulders and nodded at his nudge, not sure if she ought to respond in some way else. Strange was really only a word she'd assign it if she thought hard about it. It applied, sure, but it didn't bother her. Evidently her upbringing had prepared her for it well enough. "I suppose it is but I do not often think about it, really. Not anymore." Only her parents were worth missing since when she'd left, they were all who'd survived (not counting the resurfaced brother moons later). She'd long since coped with both the deaths of her younger siblings and never felt anything besides relief towards the ends of her littermates anyway. It was easy to forget about them in favor of wolves of better company that she chose to care about. "But yes. Pack becomes family.. in its own way." Different than actual bonds of blood but valuable still. She'd lived off them for almost years now, so long that they were her truest of ties.

"Tell me more of the returned sibling? I think.. he is the one I smell him around a lot during the nighttime," but she had yet to cross formal paths with him and knew only bits and pieces -- namely his likeliness to Floki in appearance and the fact that they certainly smelled related. There had been more she'd meant to mention about him and the rest of Charon's family constellation, but she paused to sniff some vague tracks pressed into a patch of mud instead for now. They smelled of nothing noteworthy, and not bears, so she carried on.

Amekaze did not seem to mind much that she had no family left. Perhaps it was something that came with age, that when you grew older, you understood that you couldn't stay with everyone all the time, that relational ties sometimes just faded. Charon decided not to think much more on it, since Ame did not, and instead they moved onto the next subject when Ame asked him about Tevinter.

"His real name's Jorunn, and he looks just like Flóki. We lost him in the same bear attack that cost Atreyu his leg." Charon looked a little disturbed as he thought of it — the sickening crack of bones and the tearing of flesh as though Atreyu was a mere bunny rabbit tossed around — but he quickly shook the thoughts from his mind. He needed to be brave when they faced the bears, needed to work on somehow forgetting what replayed in his mind so often when he thought back to that moment. "Jorunn was dragged out to sea, and we looked everywhere, but we assumed him to be dead since he was no where to be found." And Ragnar had said that wolves who were gone for so long were often dead. But Jorunn had returned, and so had Osprey. Were Charon's father and Liyaní still alive out there somewhere, too, maybe even Kevlyn? ... Maybe even his mother?

Charon looked around as though he was looking for the bears, though he had been lost in thought a moment, before he continued: "He calls himself Tevinter now. When he got out of the ocean he was adopted by the Frostfurs, or whatever — I don't know them — but they left the area so he decided to come back to his real family. I dunno, though. He doesn't seem too warm towards me, but maybe that's just 'cause I called him out on his bullshit when he first came to our borders and accused us of not looking for him." Charon looked wry, and he felt wry. He hoped that his bonds with Jorunn could be reconciled in the future, but right now they weren't looking too fly. If he proved himself as a member of the pack and a member of his family, though, maybe things would be mended again.

"Wait," Charon said and he stopped suddenly, his nose gingerly testing the air around him while he tried to define what he found. "I found something." Charon sniffed a nearby tree, which smelled a lot like bear, and when he put his nose to the ground the scent trail seemed to be leading out of the forest and up towards the mountain. He looked back at Ame, hoping she could confirm his findings.

It seemed when it came to the histories of the Bay wolves, the bears were always involved. Amekaze listened with a frown. A bit of it reminded her of finding Inari alive and the confusing feelings that had inspired, but at least Tevinter had come back when some recollections. Even if he'd changed his name. Amekaze couldn't claim to understand the motivations of any of that but did take the mention of Frostfurs to heart. The name was vaguely familiar from faraway days at the Creek. "Perhaps," she reasoned regarding his sourness towards the older sibling. "Maybe he needs time." Or something else unseen.

She would not have taken kindly to it either had Inari turned up and accused her of not looking. "He really thought you did not look for him..?" she asked with a small scoff. Rude, but the question and the consequential interest in the answer faded suddenly. Charon had found something and that was far more valuable to her in this moment.

She moved over to check it out herself, and it was faint.. but.. something. Ame answered with a low hiss. She looked around, skimming the tree trunks for any signs of them, or any other tell-tale evidences. Looking to confirm the direction, she trailed after it towards the forest's edge. It stayed faint, but it lined up. At least one scent was distinct enough.. but she couldn't catch wind of another yet. "Maybe they have gone higher in elevations than suspected," she growled lowly when her eyes turned up the slopes. There was a number of things that could motivate to do that, and she already had her suspicions. "At least one has."

"Maybe," Charon said thoughtfully, though he wasn't sure if time would mend anything. He hoped it would, though; he had accepted Tevinter into this pack only because Jorunn was part of the Loðbrók family and that meant that this was where the viking belonged. Maybe time would mend things between them, or maybe it would not. They'd have to see about that. He nodded as Ame reacted with surprise at Jorunn thinking that they hadn't looked for him. Maybe that opinion would turn in time, too, who knew.

Before he could verbally respond he'd already found the track, and Charon glanced at Ame as she mentioned they may have gone to higher elevations. He sniffed the air and nodded. "Maybe they settled in one of the caves along the mountainside or something?" he suggested. He wasn't sure they were both gone, but then, he didn't even really know if bears were very tight-knit or if it'd been a coincidence that they ran into two at a time. Charon carefully followed the trail out of the forest, not wanting to face the bears in person, but hoping to find at least one to observe them anyway.

i've been a horrible holdup here so i'm gonna fade this one out(we have a perpetual need for new threads anyway haha)

They had a better trail, for now. She only nodded her head at Charon and tracked along with him towards the upper reaches. Meanwhile, she was ever watchful -- just in case something went wrong. If bears were afoot, even in the general radius, it wouldn't hurt her any to be extra vigilant. Plus, she did intend to memorize these paths and hope to see any details they'd pass by. Even the most minuscule could be worth something..

She was eager to learn more. This would only be the beginning.