Moonspear until we figure it out

@Charon, set a few days after the babies were born (:

terance figured that he wasn't welcome near the newborns. he wasn't sure how close he could get to them, but he doubted it was within eyesight of the little jellybeans. truthfully, he wasn't sure how he was supposed to congratulate either of the parents. he thought about doing it through hydra or lyra, but that didn't seem very sincere. he was sort of at a loss right now, not really being socialized to handle this type of subordinate situation. eventually, the only thing he could think to do was set up camp nearby, but not within site. so he did.

the babies were close. he couldn't hear or see them, but he could smell them. and amekaze, and charon, who he assumed was guarding the den. from the ways off, terance held a messy rabbit fur in her jaws. tentatively, he placed it at his feet beside the meat that the fur had once belonged to. when osprey was pregnant, she showed them how to make little pelts by carefully separating the fur from the tendons and skin and flesh and all that other stuff. wraen was pretty good at it, but terance was a nightmare. this one he was pretty proud of, but he wouldn't be too offended if charon called it shitty and refused to use it-- it wasn't  all that neat.

gifts at his feet, terance gave a soft chuff, and then a loud bark for his alpha, hoping he'd take the time to come down the cliff where terance waited.

Charon had almost forgotten how difficult it was to have small babes and go on barely any sleep — his days were spent resting briefly outside the den, guarding Amekaze and the little ones, and running around doing short, quick patrols or grabbing food from a nearby cache. It was only on occasion that he got to hunt something fresh, but usually he let the fresh meat delivered by his daughters or other pack mates. He didn't see much of the higher reaches of the mountain; the den was situated close to the bottom, in the forests at the mountain's slopes.

He'd been taking a short nap when suddenly he jolted awake to the realisation that someone was nearby. His hackles pricked defensively as he leaped to his feet, but soon he saw Terance not far off. There was something by his feet — food, maybe? — and Charon returned the chuff as he approached, his posture relaxing.

just like he'd been taught, terance gave a respectful dip of his head when charon arrived-- but relaxed as soon as his alpha did. he looked a bit on edge, and the young redleaf-disarrino boy was ready to flee if he was not wanted here, but so far so good.

"hey-- charon," terance greeted with a gentle wag of his tail, lowering his head to nose at the gifts, "osprey taught me this. she's better at it, but it's soft for the puppies to lay on." the other part was food, surely that was distinguishable. if he had to explain he would, but for now he only felt that the furry pelt was lacking in-- well, pretty much everything. he had nothing else to say on the matter-- he just sort of assumed that charon would respond.

Osprey was and always would be, it seemed, a bucket of surprises. Charon glanced at the pelt; he hadn't seen this before very much and he found it a curious practise. He'd collected soft things for Amekaze's den but mostly plants and the sorts. "Huh," he said in his surprise as he looked at it. "It looks a little... patchy." He wasn't sure if patchy was the right word, but he could find no other words for this right now. "Does it always look like this?"

Well, no matter, he remembered his manners despite his tiredness and forced a smile to his face as he said, "Thank you. This is thoughtful." The meat felt much more welcome than the patchy-looking fur, but he didn't want to discredit Osprey's kid or whatever so he decided not to make a shit comment about that.

The sudden realisation passed him that he was grateful to have Terance here, because he trusted the boy a lot more than the a-little-less-new family. They were competition in the fatherly brain he had right now and so he didn't trust them nearly as much as the boy (who already had a lot of cookie points just for being Osprey's son, of course). "How are you settling in?" he then asked.

terance snorted at charon's comment, a little amused. he was maybe embarrassed, but not surprised that his craftsmanship was called out. "shitty, maybe," he corrected the alpha with a light shrug. he wasn't too offended, he'd come here pretty aware of the pelt's status-- shitty. but! osprey had taught him, and charon meant something to him, so he tried his darndest. "mom's better at it," he repeated in regards to charon's question, an obvious no. with a good-hearted smile, terance added, "you can just take the meat."

"good," he then said with a light bob of his head. his ears pricked as thoughts putted through his mind, but good seemed to describe it well. moonspear felt fitting to the boy, and though his parents and siblings were far from the mountain-- he felt at home. "i met your daughters-- all three of them," he decided to add. he'd met just about everyone in the pack by now, though he was less than aware that charon actually had four daughters. he assumed the pale girl whom he'd seen once or twice was merely another random packmate.

He wasn't sure if it was that he'd gotten soft or if it was because it was Osprey's son that he hadn't outright told him he didn't want his patchy fur. It was only when Terance filled those words in himself that he realised that maybe that was what he'd wanted to say. He grinned somewhat and then said, "Yeah, we'll just take the meat," though was left with a strange feeling because he was not used to holding back his words at all, and hadn't even realised he had done it at first.

Terance said he'd met all three daughters and Charon couldn't help but wonder if that meant he'd met Hydra, Lyra, Julia and Alya posing as one of her siblings. Assuming this he said, "There's actually three black ones, but maybe Alya's been fooling you. She likes to pose as her sisters the most of all three of them. Julia's the only odd one out."

smiling, he kicked the patchy fur-lump to the side and nosed forward the meat, red and stringy and kind funny looking now. maybe it was easier to eat now that he'd torn apart most of the fur and such, but he wasn't going to test it out. charon's response about the triplets though, phew, that went way over terance poor little head. the stone stared, quietly, his ears cupped forward and eyes squinting in almost disbelief. "hydra and ayla both pretended to be lyra," he said in a comment, almost like he was agreeing but still like he was trying to work something out. "julia?" he said, another comment, this time phrased like a question, "i've seen her." an implication lied somewhere that he hadn't known that she was one of his, but he'd yet to officially meet her anyway. somehow this small detail had a big impact on him, maybe it had something to do with all three triplet's lack of communication and bond with their fourth sister... did they not care about her? he could only think of wraen and sarah and how he wanted nothing more than to spend each waking moment with them. he was baffled.

deciding he didn't like this new information, and was suddenly mad with all three girls (although he and ayla weren't all that close). terance opted to change the topic, as he would prefer not to have a problem with lyra and hydra was actually turning out to be pretty damn cool... and ayla had potential as a friend. "how are the pups?" he asked. he knew damn well he probably couldn't see them, but talking about them was not a rule. how are they? how big are they? how many? what colors? genders? did they open their eyes yet? probably not. all questions terance had but refused to ask in one sentence-- that would be obnoxious.

Charon grinned at his daughter's shenanigans — he'd always had a hard time keeping them apart, though luckily they didn't trick him as often now that they were getting older; or maybe he'd just become more trained at it. "Korei Julia," he clarified, realising he was the only one who really called her 'Julia' rather than 'Korei', though it didn't really occur to him that Terance hadn't realised Julia was part of the same litter as the triplets.

"They're doing well, they seem healthy, though one's rather small," said Charon in response to the question about the pups. "Three girls and a boy." They seemed to have a knack for daughters. "And two dark ones and two light ones."

korei julia-- terance felt he could remember that. he wasn't sure he'd every been told a specific name, but both of them maybe, so charon's comment made sense to him regardless. oh well. he nodded at the clarification, not sure it was necessary to respond.

charon shared a few pup specifics, to which terance's tail waggled a bit behind him. puppies were so cool. he wasn't sure that having his own would be all that rad, but he liked hearing about other couples pups. truthfully, terance preferred the act of baby-making. he'd been taught all about that mess, and it sounded down-right awesome. he'd never tried it, no female had ever given him to opportunity (plus mom and dad were always like, right there), but he was fully educated on how it worked.

like he had some expert opinion, terance shrugged. "i bet it'll get bigger soon, the triplets and korei are all good," he commented. one successful litter probably guaranteed a successful second one, terance thought.

Charon wasn't sure how things worked with pups, to be truthful; he knew little about those sort of things. But there wasn't any use in worrying about any of it, he also realised. If the weaker pup would die, it would only serve to further the rest of their pups because they'd get more resources, so it seemed that the outcome'd be beneficial to the pack regardless. He didn't really consider any middle way — either it'd get stronger and be fine, or it'd die and that would be okay too, in a different kind of manner, so long as it happened while it was still a little useless bean and not a pup with a voice and personality.

"Yeah, probably," he said with a shrug. "In a couple of weeks, you and the rest of the pack can see them too, when they get to go outside." He didn't want to offer to see them now, still feeling very protective and also not wanting to bother Ame with a stream of visitors. But soon, it'd be time. Terance seemed very eager.

charon didn't seem so sure-- or maybe he just didn't care. terance couldn't tell, but either way, he held his smile and his tail still brushed against his hocks as it wagged. when charon brought up meeting them one day, terance's tail waved a little faster, gaze flitting to the general direction of the den. "cool," he replied, wondering how many a couple meant. terance hadn't really expected to get to see them today, osprey hadn't even let them see the pups for a few days-- he assumed that he wouldn't be able to see these guys until they were like, hydra's age.

suddenly feeling like he'd killed the conversation (as his blunt answers tended to do), terance gave another dip of his head, ready to skirt-skirt away. "lemme know if you need anything," he said, tail pausing to hear any requests that the alpha might have. then, as a second thought, he snorted, and said, "besides burn this." he poked at the patchy fur-skin-- wondering if he actually could somehow find a way to burn in.

They'd just have to see how long it would take for the pups to go outside the first time. It had felt like ages last time, but in reality he figured it was only a bunch of weeks. He couldn't really pinpoint it because like last time, Charon would base it nearly entirely on how quick the pups would develop and when they'd be walking around on their own.

At Terance's suggestions he snickered, amused and glad that Osprey's kid had turned out to be such a great kid despite Dante. "Thanks, I'll keep it in mind," Charon said and he picked up the meat that he'd been brought. Amekaze would probably be equally happy with a fresh kill rather than a cached thing because he was too busy keeping watch. It was nice they had so much more support from the pack — including their own daughters — this year. Charon turned around after a friendly nod, assuming that Terance said nothing more, and started back towards the den with the food.

terance didn't say anything more, returning his alpha's nod and padding off. a small part of him was glad that he wasn't offered to see the litter. truthfully, it probably would've made him more homesick than usual-- more guilty for leaving... more guilty for losing sarah. as he padded away with the fur in his jaws, he gave his head a light shake, like it'd actually push the thought away or something. maybe he'd find hydra or something, a good spar or hunt never hurt, it'd be a good distraction.

he glanced towards the sky, making note of the sun. he still had time before it set, and then he'd break off on his own to do some thinking. terance needed some time alone with the sky, he decided.