Moonspear Heyday

Day by day Seal became more confident in her growing body, despite her innate clumsiness. She gallivanted through the forest, roughhoused with @Orca II, and often followed around @Alaric or @Fennec. @Sable and @Towhee Jr had always been a bit reserved… but since Towhee departed for her travels the duo seemed even more withdrawn.

Today, Seal explored the foothills of Moonspear beneath a cliff face near the borders. The summer rains had been heavy the past week and new treasures seemed to appear daily. Perhaps she could find something her cousins would like? Or maybe something for Sialuk, who was round with child.

Seal managed to find a weird-shaped pinecone, a purple wildflower, and a shiny piece of quartz. Huzzah! She managed to carry all of the treasures in her mouth. Then, she spotted something amazing!

Two old skeletons lay on the ground, intertwined.

“Woah!” Seal gasped and promptly dropped her possessions.

Having only ever seen the skeletons of prey animals, Seal did not recognize that these were wolves. And she certainly did not know that these were the bodies of Moonspear’s once-rulers, Charon and Amekaze.

Quickly, she tugged at one of the legs and hoped to dislodge it.

Tuku Boartusk: Your character discovers a body of a previously played character who died in-game. (+1 additional thread point)

towhee jr follows seal.

stalks her, actually. practicing her hunting skills that she firmly believe tie neatly into her desire to be a warrior.

silly as it may seem given jr's distinct ... afflictions.

still, she soldiers on. she cannot make herself hear nor speak any more than she can change that the sun chases the moon in an endless ouroboros.

but she if is broadcasting that she was following ... watching, seal doesn't seem to notice and towhee jr herself cannot tell. or perhaps seal is kind enough to pretend that she didn't. or perhaps, seal simply hadn't had a chance to notice because junior's path had crossed with her's not too terribly long ago.

her niece stops, and towhee jr watches for a few moments before her curiosity gets the better of her and she approaches with a low, soft rumble, gaze fixing past seal to the leg her niece was trying to dislodge.

Seal was completely oblivious that somebody stalked. So, when Towhee Jr’s low rumble made it to the girl’s ears, she gasped. The bones fell suddenly from Seal’s mouth as if she had just been caught with something illegal! She whizzed around and half-expected to see Argent, Sialuk, or another adult standing there, expecting an answer.

But no- it was Towhee Jr!

Seal sighed in relief, which transformed into a laugh. -“You spooked me, Junior!”- she signed, now fluent because of Towhee’s expert lessons. -“You sure are good at sneakin’!”-

Then she stepped to the side to show off her great discovery. -“Look what I found!”-

Sure, she was a wee disappointed that the surprise had been spoiled… but now maybe they could excavate the bones together!

-sorry,- jr signs, a sheepish expression morphing onto her face. and she was. she hadn't meant to give her niece a fright and she moves forward, if seal allows it, to bump the crown of her head to the other girl's shoulder.

an apology and greeting rolled into one.

-thanks. maybe i found my new calling as a phantom.- jr jokes, soundless laugh that was a soft feathering of air pushing from her lungs.

at seal's reveal of her discovery, jr ghosts forward a step to further inspect what seal had uncovered. a soft furrow etches itself into towhee jr's brow as she examines the leg. unable to place what it belonged to.

she's seen rabbit, deer, and other woodland creatures legs. but never wolf, which borne her ignorance.

-what is it from?- she asks, watching seal's paws to see if her niece had any idea.

Seal welcomed Towhee Jr’s greeting with a big, open smile. Her squirrely tail wagged so hard that it slapped each side of her flank. The reverb made her body wiggle in a friendly and animated way.

-“Honestly, that would be a pretty cool name!”- Seal mused. -“Phantooooommmm”- the motion of her ptero became drawn out to emphasize the super-cool-superhero-way she would have said the name if spoken aloud.

Seal gave room for her aunt-cousin-sister-friend to inspect the pile of bones. They were far more discriminating, unlike the Sveijarn-Corten who had dove in without a second thought.

-“Huh, I don’t know.”- Seal signed as she raised one eyebrow to telegraph that to ask such a question was a novel idea. -“Whatever it was, it sure was big! I was gonna bring it back for you and Sable. Or maybe a toy for Sialuk’s pups when they're born.”- Seal explained. -“Maybe we can dig the rest out and bring it to Auntie Curse. I bet she would know.”- Seal suggested.

a grin forms itself upon jr's lips. -yeah? i guess phantom is kinda badass,- she signs, tilting her head to the side as she contemplates it. -maybe i'll take it as my moniker outside of moonspear.- even though any wolf that knew towhee the OG would no doubt paint jr as her offspring.

which would take away the whole purpose of using a moniker ... but the idea takes hold anyway.

-looks kinda big for a pup toy,- but jr has to remind herself that sialuk's cubs wouldn't stay small forever. none of them had. -but that's a great idea.- she is quick to catch herself and offer it in encouragement.

-let's see if we can figure out what this leg belongs to.- jr grasps ahold of the suggestion as seal offers it, her curiosity governing any other logic that might've been trying to intrude.

-“Okay!”- Seal signed with a peppy wag of her tail. Then, she turned to the rubble of dirt, debris, rocks, and bones and began to dig. Every now and then she not-so-carefully moved aside a larger rock with her too-big paws.

With the effort of both juveniles, the bones began to reveal themselves. Seal had been able to identify that it was definitely two animals (because two sets of protruding ribs were easy to spot) but she was clueless beyond that.

When they had moved aside most of the rubble Seal signed, -“let’s give it a tug.”- She clutched a piece of radius and waited for Towhee Jr to hold on too. Then, with a heave-ho the girls would be able to dislodge the front of both animals and release the naked skulls of Charon and Amezake from the rock.

seal is open to the idea, and towhee moves alongside her niece to begin helping to remove the settled dirt and rubble. she pushes as a larger rock with her shoulder, pressing her weight into it. it doesn't move very far but just enough to be outside their excavation area.

-i wonder what happened here?- she signs, not really expecting an answer.

though perhaps seal had more of an idea than towhee did.

she reaches what is mostly dirt and begins to dig, upheaving large piles of dirt and pebbles that, the larger it grows, scrapes against her belly ... only to recoil suddenly as she reveals a skull. she bumps against seal's shoulder, harder than she meant to, wishing she didn't find a familiarity in the shape of the skull.

-i think this is a grave. they are wolves.- too easily, towhee can imagine the bones with flesh, with fur; and suddenly she feels a little ill that they hadn't realized and had disturbed it.

Towhee Jr gave Seal food for thought as she dug. What happened, indeed? The place of strange marks. Stars falling. Boneyards. A new mystery seemed to haunt Moonspear every day, at least from Seal’s perspective. Like a mother with dark secrets.

The girls upturned the last stone and the two hollowed faces of Moonspear’s ancestors stared straight at the pups. Towhee Jr recoiled but Seal, oblivious and curious, moved closer to investigate the large skulls. A few good sniffs detect the aroma of decay… the large, yellowed fangs gleamed in the light. Even a few strands of black and white hair remained embedded where the ears once were. Surely, they had been formidable animals.

Suddenly, Seal felt a bump at her shoulder and turned to see Towhee Jr’s blank face. Wolves? A grave? At first, Seal thought it was just a joke. -“Yeah right,”- she laughed nervously (for it wasn’t really like TJ to have that kind of humor!). Then, it began to dawn on Seal. She turned around slowly to regard the skulls… their mangled bodies… their twisted paws.

Seal shrieked and jumped behind Towhee Jr for cover. “W-w-w-wolves?!” she said aloud, mortified that they had desecrated such a thing. The skeletons looked so fierce, she could hardly imagine it! -“W-what if it’s Akhlut!"- Seal shook so hard that she could barely sign the words. -“W-w-what do we do?”- tears began to bead in the corner of her eyes as she panicked.

To think -- she had been chewing on them!

akhlut, admittedly, was not jr's first thought.

and she couldn't really disprove seal's worries because she wasn't sure what an orca wolf looked like.

but the protective drive that pushes her to the borders, to train and learn to fight takes hold in a different way in the here now; blossoming warmly in her chest.

-i do not think it is akhlut,- she signs, gaze flickering from seal to the body. -look,- towhee signs, gesturing to the grave with her paw. -it looks like there is another.- which did not absolve her of the guilt she feels.

-take a breath, seal,- she swallows past the unsettled self-horror, pushing the crown of her head against seal's shoulder; meant to be a comforting gesture before she pulls back some. -we cover them with dirt and rocks and offer them a gift as apology.-

a soft crease of her brow is given; contemplative as she studies the grave again. -i'll work on the grave. you can see if you can find something we can give them?- she suggests. providing seal agreed, towhee jr would begin to move the piles of dirt with quick scrapes of her paws.

Seal was so disturbed that a wave of nausea soured her stomach. Her breath hitched as she fretted, afraid that she had forever ruined some holy site of Moonspear’s ancestors. What would Sialuk think?? Thankfully, Towhee Jr became the anchor Seal needed.

She wrapped her arm around TJ’s for support. -“O-Okay,”- Seal signed as she sniffed back a tear and took a big breath. Mending the grave was the best possible solution, and the girl was happy to be put to work immediately. Hopefully, whoever these wolves were, their spirits would forgive them.

-“I’ll find something good,”- she promised. Not long after, Seal completed a few trips to bring back treasures.

Most importantly, Seal had returned with enough smooth rocks to create a small cairn like the one her parents had made for brother Narwhal. She had also managed to catch a small field mouse and find a few bright-colored blooms of bee balm and aster.

jr's words seemed to work their magic, and as she watches some of the anxious tension in seal's face fade, feels the wrap of the other girl's arm 'round her's, jr relaxes.

-we'll make it right. we'll make it better.- though, the 'grave' had looked like it'd been apart of whatever had happened to scar the spear's side.

jr takes a few steps back to admire her handiwork as seal approaches with gifts, one right after the other. a few brightly colored blooms, a small field mouse and smooth rocks to make a small stack; a curiosity to jr, though she does not ask.

she studies seal's contribution with a noise of approval.

-it looks real good, seal.-

Seal arranged the altar and its gifts with the most artistic flare she could muster.

Towhee Jr’s words of affirmation meant the world to Seal and eased her mind. A wan smile was passed to her relative. -“You think?”- she said as she checked and stepped back to assess their work. -“I hope their spirits aren’t angry with us”- she admitted.

A moment passed between them and then she turned to TJ. -“Can we keep this between us?”- she signed, accompanied by big pleading puppy dog eyes. -“Our secret.…”-

-i think if they were angry with us, we'd know.- and while jr was no expert on spirits or how to interpret signs, she feels that since nothing had come down to smite either of them that they were probably safe.

probably.

and even then, she lingers upon the line between not wanting to risk it and being skeptical on whether akhlut actually exists or not.

she tended to err to the belief that she forged her own path and any consequences were direct or linear of her own choices ... rather than divine intervention of any sort.

-sure.- jr seeks to reassure seal that this would be kept between them. -my lips are sealed.- jr promises with a foxish grin; a joke at her own expense. -but seriously, i won't tell.-

We’d know.

Seal’s gaze flicked to the sky for any signs of sudden inclement weather. Could a spirit become vengeful and seek out comeuppance? A shiver snaked down Seal’s spine.

But her relative’s promise made the girl feel a little better. -“Thanks, TJ”- she signed with a sheepish, but sincere, smile. Her shoulders popped with a weak laugh at the self-deprecating joke. -“Common’ let’s get out of here and go find Orca an’ Sable. Maybe they wanna play or explore.”- One last glance at the newly constructed tomb was all Seal permitted herself before turning to leave towards the rendezvous site.

-you go ahead,- towhee signs, encouraging seal to go find ocra or sable ( or both ), as she'd suggested, -i'm going to walk the borders for a bit.- after the strange discovery and the things she was left to contemplate: complex things that jr isn't so sure she entirely understands, she wants to decompress with the familiarity of a good patrol.