Moonspear so you bring the battle home

a deep, winded oof, raised terance from where he laid. it was noon, roughly, and the yearling hadn't moved since yesterday evening. it was noon now, when a particular ray of sun beamed through the pine needles of the tree he rested under and glared right into his eyes-- that he decided it was maybe time to get up. he didn't really feel like a patrol, but he couldn't think of anything else to do, and both hydra and rannoch's scents were missing from the area. perhaps they'd done a patrol together on the other side of the territory. he thought briefly of his sister, since her scent was far fresher, but he wasn't really thrilled about the idea of an energetic conversation. that was something he hadn't experienced before-- not wanting to see his sister. her personality made it hard to feel down, but today terance couldn't think of anything worse than a bubbly, happy-go-lucky personality to keep up with. 

slowly, he got his big paws moving and headed off towards the border. he didn't want to, but he knew he needed to-- or at least to do something-- so he pressed on. along the way, he caught whiff of a scent that he didn't usually find this close to the borders. and the closer he got, the more he discovered it wasn't even in the territory. reaching the territory's edge, terance scanned the cliffs below, catching sight of a dark figure headed down them. his ears pricked, a bit of curiosity sparking up. 

though the triplets were still almost indistinguishable, terance had made note of a few subtle differences. lately, hydra smelled like that new guy-- dirge. they patrolled together quite a bit, and though terance was of course jealous(as hydra had been when he'd begun to hang out with rannoch), he didn't have the energy to bring it up to her. he supposed it didn't matter much anyway. alya and lyra were harder to distinguish, he'd decided, but since tending to rannoch the ladder tended to smell more earthy, like those yellow flowers and those big leaves. 

of course, no one was perfect, and terance still very regularly mixed up the sisters. still, he turned towards the path, headed towards the girl he hoped was @Lyra, a habit he'd yet to break-- even though he'd accepted that she and he were destined to become nothing but friends. 

he couldn't tell what she was doing, or where she was going, but when he was close enough, the stone let out of woof to grab her attention-- hoping it was actually the quietest head of the cerberus.

Yet another snowfall had put the stony mountain into silence. His thoughts of climbing upward to take in the sights were laid to rest by such; Dirge didn't feel like contending with any more than he actually had to today. Instead he had busied himself by unearth the frozem contents of a cache, tossing frosty clots of dirt this way and that in his progress to store away another offering. The grouse had been tempting to take for himself, but seeing how he had rested it from within Moonspear's clutches it only seemed right to keep it there.

He wasn't really a fan of the gamey bird and as of late, also didn't feel like much of a beggar either. His fill of such had come and gone earlier in the season and now with the stores of a pack to pick out of, he found his choice cuts mingling here and there when the days were fruitless. Today was almost one of those days; it had been quiet and he was unsurprisingly restless. It showed in his movements, the way his nails raked over loose stones and cold dirt, the way his dirtied snout rooted through sticks and leaves to make a pocket that he could stow his contribution away in. A huff left him as he nudged such items away, finally in a position to grab and hastily shove the bird in before his handiwork either folded in on itself or otherwise collapsed.

He puffed stray fuzz from an old hare off his lips and was pushing up from the hole he had worked into when someone's voice cut through the ambience he had tuned out. His eyes were searching out the other faster than his ears could turn and he almost missed the dark streak as they shifted downhill through crevices and crooked trees. The return call he gave was sharp and short—as though to suggest "hey, I'm here!"—and nary a thought crossed that maybe it wasn't directed at him. It had come towards him, hadn't it? His gaze roamed over the jumbled terrain, seeking the other from some emerging point and uncertain of just who it was and what they wanted... and with no knowledge whether or not they would stop.

Whoever it was, they were definitely interested in something.

i saw dirge's name... couldn't help myself. (¬‿¬)
but totally feel free to ignore him too!

She had intended earlier that day to head outside Moonspear's territory in a half-hearted attempt at finding some herbs. She had become better at identifying ones that were useful and ones that would do more harm than good, but the trip was less of a simple search for plants and more of an assessment. Hydra and the other guardians of the pack were doing enough to keep Moonspear's borders safe, and Alya kept an eye out for the Blackfeather wolf on her scouting trips. Lyra, however, wanted to help while there was currently no-one she had to tend to. She was fleet-footed and stealthy but she was not a fighter and would be severely disadvantaged if she were to be found out or caught.

The girl had just made it outside the heavily-marked borders before a familiar-sounding call drew her attention back towards the territory. She paused and turned, almost guiltily so. Terance stood as handsome as ever and she gave him a coy smile, not unlike a teenager caught sneaking out late at night. She had no reason to be so sheepish, but the girl rarely left the territory and with the pale-coated murderer still at large, she knew her safety out there was a gamble. Perhaps she could convince the much stronger male to accompany her. Unbeknownst to the girl, there were two males nearby she could employ. Her gaze, however, remained upon the darker boy, and she stepped forward with a gentle wave of her tail, "oh, hi Terance!"

making the assumption that terance knows of dirge from hydra (:

lyra turned, greeting him with a sweet smile and a soft voice-- as always. damn it, he was so aware of the situation, and yet he struggled trying not to melt. he decided long ago it would never work, and he was wasting his own damn time... but he couldn't help it. his tail wagged, returning the smile. he was close to asking what she was doing so close to the borders, leaving the borders, actually, since he knew that she knew the current psychopath situation, but another woof caught his attention.

his ears pricked, and his head swiveled as he scanned the cliffs for the source of the bark. it landed upon... dirge? terance had never met the guy face-to-face, but he could recognize his scent easily just from hydra, and he was the only male terance had yet to meet. he put two-and-two together. 

though he really wanted to ignore the guy and get back to lyra, he knew he probably shouldn't-- there was no point in that. so terance gave another bark, inviting him down the path to join them, before turning back to the cerberus.

"where are you going?" he asked, trying not to sound to overbearing, but certainly concerned.

There was a bark and a flash of black as the wolf emerged, this time briefly disappearing behind the trees again. The inviting reply was all he needed to shake the dirt and muck from his coat and set off. It wouldn't be hard to track down the speedy fellow, not with the snow... and he soon discovered the rough but worn path that his company steadily went down.

A few steps further and Dirge found he—Terance, if he had heard the name right—was in the company of another, who initially he thought was Hydra. But the voice was all wrong, yet the uncanny resemblance left him with few options to choose from. She had to have been her sister, an equally dark twin, another piece of family he would be curious of. His steps slowed as he zeroed in to a stop at a fair distance, his tail waving merrily at his hocks in lieu of a greeting.

works for me! i figure they all probably have rough ideas of one another by way of scent anyway. and my bad on the delay, holidays and what not.

<3

Before she could say anything more, another appeared at Terance's bark. Her eyes flicked to the male as he emerged, and she felt her heart flutter slightly. He seemed to radiate a warmth that was tinged with roguish charm and she immediately saw why Hydra fell for him. The way she spoke of him matched the image she now saw before her. "Ah, you must be Dirge," she said bashfully, suddenly realising Terance was still standing right in front of her.

Her gaze flicked back to him, her shy smile pinching at the corners at his question. She shrugged. "Can't a girl just go for a midnight stroll," she huffed indignantly, summoning some of Alya's sass. She already assumed Terance's retort, and shot him a challenging look. "I can look after myself, you know."

a midnight stroll... he smiled at her, his tail wagging a little. "never said you couldn't," he replied with a light dip of his nose. with that, terance turned to look at dirge, who'd just officially joined their party of two. he'd heard hydra talk a good bit about him, and(as lyra thought) he thought he matched the description pretty well. 

"terance," he introduced with another dip of his nose, his ears pricked. he glanced then to lyra, eyes glinting in the moonlight. "mind if we join you?"  he asked.

And if there had ever been any doubt his mind that Hydra had spoken of him, it was swept away at Lyra's demure reaction to his presence. It was overshadowed though as she laid in on Terance, the chiding remarks and his following rejoinder spread an amused smirk on his features. Their banter reminded him of the conversations he had with his own kin, albeit the sass carried further. It also left him a bit of a third wheel for a moment, though Terance moved to propose that they join her. Dirge found his opportunity to speak.

"Far be it for us to intrude, but generally it is good fortune for a princess to have a cortege." His voice played smooth, but he hoped it seemed as genuine as his intentions. Not that the she-wolf couldn't defend herself of course, he suspected she was capable of holding her own. Given her mimicry of Hydra (or was it the other way around?), he dared not to question it. Perhaps if she did not snare his face, surely Hydra would.

"Of course," he went on to add, "if it's mischief you're out for I won't tattle." A knavishly thin smile followed his parting words as he moved to travel down the trail between the pair of wolves. He didn't progress far, pausing only to survey some of the unfamiliar terrain that lied ahead. His map of what was out there, at least in the heading she had taken, was sketchy. Nightfall did not aid him either, so he glanced back as though to suggest he waited her decision. She'd either want the company or wouldn't, and he'd handle either with nonchalance.

He dismissed her remark with a reply that tempered her indignation, and Lyra let a softer, amused expression spread across her features. Just like that, he was back in her good books. As Terance introduced himself, she realised Dirge might have no idea which head of the Cerberus he was speaking to. She assumed he had realised it was not Hydra, so gave him another smile before identifying herself. "I'm Lyra."

She looked from Terance to Dirge at their comments, her gaze notably favouring the latter more than the former. She couldn't help but laugh, his poetic words earning him a top spot in her list of her favourite boys in Moonspear. Of which there weren't many, in truth, but he was still up there. If Terance still sought to woo her or any of the others, his language skills had some catching up to do.

As Dirge moved down the mountain, Lyra followed to catch up to his side with a flick of her tail, gesturing for Terance to come with. "Mischief, you say?" she echoed coyly, glancing back to the green-eyed boy. She hadn't a clue what sort of schemes Dirge was thinking of, but, naturally, she did have some practice due to having two mirror image sisters. And tonight, the girl was feeling up for anything. 'What do you think, Terance?"

to his absolute disbelief and dismay, terance noticed the favor in attention. lyra's sweet, bell-chime voice was not directed at him-- rather, it was directed at dirge, and though he had apparently completely come to terms with lyra not returning his feelings for him... he was hurt-- though perhaps jealous was a better word for it. too bad for lyra(though perhaps it was more too bad for terance), he would likely never acquire that kind of language skill-- he aired more on the side of casual at all times. pity.

he stood still for a few moments as lyra accompanied dirge down the mountain, only coming (as if pulled along by a string) when lyra made a soft motion for his company. truthfully, terance thought that mischief right now was a horrible idea, what with all that had been going on? but lyra seemed so keen on it, and dirge seemed so in charge that terance just couldn't find it in himself to say no. "sounds great," he said in a bit of a deeper voice than he normally had, a soft smirk curling the edges of his lips. "what are you thinking?" he asked, aiming his question more at lyra than at dirge.

His smile turned chesire grin in a flash by moment as their interest piqued. Perhaps it had not been mischief that had drawn Lyra out that evening but it certainly held the potential to become the focus. His tail swayed as she came to join him; a brief tip of his head at Terance's trailing behind was but icing on the cake to the not-so-subtle deepening in his voice. Though not a genius, Dirge caught his cues with veiled intrigue—at least Terance was trying to conceal his sourness. It was no matter either way for all eyes and ears may as well have been on him.

Punctuating the silence fallen with a throaty, thoughtful sound, it was not a long ponder as to what sort of mischief he could plunge them all into: "Yes, mischief. Nothing too brash of course, we can't go about sullying our good names over just anything. What about the foxes, hm? I've seen their tracks, we could find some and pay them a visit," he said with a decisive click of his teeth, "could make them pay us a ransom for hiding in the woods." His gaze travelled over Terance as his words trailed off before settling on Lyra to leave it up to her.

Whether or not the trio ended up getting into mischief remained another story.

edit—archiving this because it's been a month with no continue. :(