Moonspear Drama Bomb

Bringing the bastards @Kotake and @Koume to see @Charon!

Gently, she roused her two eldest children, the twins in the dark of dawn. Miraak was standing outside the den, waiting patiently as she took them outside, where he took her position near the younger brothers. He did not know where she was going — she had kept that information to herself — but he followed her request nonetheless, letting her take the twins out of the Woods for the first time.

Alternating between holding Koume and Kotake in maw, she moved westward towards the mountains. She had beforeventured to Redhawk Caldera, stealing a sniff at their borders for any sign of the man who had first took her. Nothing. She knew it was not enough, but she would not dare howling at their borders to present children to a father who might not even be there. His face was hazy in her mind, though his name remained. Wylie. 

Faintly, she wondered what had become of him, but that moved away deep into her mind as she neared the mountain. She stopped as soon as she smelled the borders, letting her two girls drink though they were in the weaning process. It was all she could give them now, so far from home. She stood, her eye gazing up the mountain before she let out a short howl, summoning Charon down to her.

Koume did not react well to being woken up - at two months, she had begun to develop quite the personality. Only her sister could wake her without causing her to put up a fuss. With a grumpy expression did she follow mother's commands anyway - if only so that she could stick with her sister. Koume did not care where they were going, who they were going to see or why; she just needed to be with her sister. Quietly did she follow, but did not react nicely to being picked up again and again. Kicking and growling did she spent the time in her mother's mouth only to be put down again where she stumbled to keep up.

A big, rocky shape blocked her view, but she guessed the rest of the world looked fine. It wasn't as interesting as the woods - the web beneath the surface that led to great hiding places. She could cope with it, though when they stopped walking to drink Koume looked up. Mother was howling.

The oldest sibling was quick to raise her own muzzle to let out her own summoning song - even if she didn't know for what or who it was. It were mostly her instincts doing it, but also to show mother that she was paying attention to stuff she did.

The escapade with Potema had been all but forgotten, but he had pressed himself to focus on his daughters and pack and so over the past months he had easily pushed his friend from his mind. He wasn't sure things could ever be the same, anyway; not unless they'd pretend it had never happened, not unless they could somehow forget it. It was just dumb, foolish, but Charon entirely blamed Potema for what had happened. She'd come to him in heat, wanting it, and the only thing he could do was protect her from the rest of the world.

Her howl caught him off-guard. He'd been caching a rabbit he'd found, glad that now that winter was on its decline, he could finally start saving some food again after mostly taking through winter. Especially with how scarce their numbers were. It'd been a tough winter, much different from last year's.

Charon made his way to the borders, unaware of what was awaiting him there. To be honest, he was kind of happy to see Potema again at first. It'd been so long since they'd seen each other and she had been an imperial part of his childhood, a reappearing figure with whom he'd shared a lot of the hardships and great things that had happened to him.

But the closer he got, the more evident it became that she was not alone. He felt a lump in his throat at the sight of the children as he neared, his heart thumping in his throat. It was weird; he'd only ever seen his own daughters. He didn't know if Althaia's brood was even still alive, or where they were... And here she stood with her children, his children (or so he presumed), but he could hardly be happy about this, about them, now. It'd be like admitting guilt.

He chuffed as he neared, tail waving in somewhat friendly gesture. "You had pups," he said, his tone half-enthused, half-neutral, as he tried to keep his cool. He looked around in a silent admission of guilt to see if anyone else was here. He opened his mouth to say something, her name, anything, but nothing came out.

@Kotake

Kotake is silent, even as her twin mirrors Potema's howl with her own. She makes no comment on it, instead filled with a nervousness that she could not find the origin of. She simply waits, hoping that it would be Charon who would answer her, and no one else.

Her heart flutters with relief as she sees him approaching, but as he came closer, it became clear that he was not as happy as she hoped he would be. And who would blame him? He had only taken her body out of...what? Shame? Duty? He had a mate and children of his own, who were on the mountain right now...

Yes, The usual pride in her voice died away, embarrassment taking hold now. Why had she come in the first place?? Koume and Kotake, She gestures to each girl respectively.

feel free to pop back in at any time when you're back up with koume, meebee, and ofc kotake pls join too :) just wanted to throw this in here so you can respond to him. c:

There was an awkwardness in the air that was undeniable. He would rather have had her come to neutral lands and call him there. This place was too much his and Ame's, and it could never be his and Potema's — what he had done with her was a mistake, but he still cared for her. The way a friend would care, the way a good friend would care, a really good friend...

But this wasn't the place for their friendship, not anymore, not since what happened. She seemed to realise it now, but it was too late, she was already here. He wanted to say, 'you shouldn't have come here', and 'you should've called on neutral territory', and 'are they mine' (but of course they were, they had to be, why else did she bring them here?), and 'why do they look nothing like me?' (but then, neither did all of his own and he'd had a black sister and she had a black brother).

But the children stopped him from asking any of the questions. But the Moonspear stopped him, because he did not want to risk anything. He looked down at the pups and felt nothing but guilt at first, a churning, but deep down there was also a part of him that wanted to get to know them, to be with them like with his own daughters.

"Girls," he said to Potema, smiling weakly. "I had four daughters, too." Had he mentioned this? Looking back at the girls he thought they looked a little like smaller versions of his triplets, except for their eyes. Are they mine? he wondered, but he didn't want to wonder. He wanted to know. And maybe it was easiest just to tell himself they were his, assume. Or to assume that they weren't his, in case Ame would ever find out...

"They're beautiful," he said, his smile softening, as he looked at Potema.

Then he looked at the girls again and said, leaning his head down slightly, "Hello Koume and Kotake. I'm Charon Ostrega. I'm your mother's — friend. We're friends." He lifted his gaze slightly to match Potema's for a moment, almost as if searching for silent confirmation of the fact.

Going to move this along. PP-ing @Koume and Kotake

The guilt she felt was not in the moral sense. She had no concept of bastards or adultery, not like others did. Sex was sex, children were children. This embarrassment, this guilt that she felt wasn't related to the shame of extra-marital affairs on her part, but that she had lied to Charon, her one friend. She had broken a promise to him in that her two sons, who she did not mention now as Charon mentions his daughters (even though she wants to burst with pride at their growth), were born of two other men. Not just one, two. She could never tell him that, she feels, lest she lose his trust altogether and let the last remnants of her childhood slip away from her.

She nods at Charon, a somber smile gracing her face as she looked down at her children. Kotake blinks at the speckled male while Koume stares at him with silent defiance. Their eyes had not changed color yet, but already she could tell the difference in her daughters' faces. Say hello, And they murmur a response — Koume does anyway, seemingly babbling for them both. Charon, Desperation bursting from her throat. I know you feel guilty about what happened - I just - I needed, No, that was wrong and true and made this whole situation worse than it actually was. I...

The children just stared at him and he grinned, finding bits and pieces of his own daughters — of his other daughters — in them. There was no doubt in his mind as he looked at the defiance in Koume's eyes that she was his, the fire in her eyes and the ever questioning of everything and everyone around her. He wondered if Potema had told his daughters about him, if they knew of him, but he was afraid to ask. Maybe it was easier if they didn't know, but, he thought, maybe he could get to know them as their mother's friend instead.

As they were instructed they said their helloes and he smiled, feeling both weird and awkward and at the same time in a good space and glad to meet daughters that he had elsewhere, even if they were treading on dangerous ground to do so here.

His attention was robbed back to Potema as she spoke his name in a distressed manner. Ears fell back and then forward again as he looked at her with question in his eyes. He felt peaceful and calm now, his cool long gone, but who was to blame him — even to meet his friend's pups would be a good thing, and nobody had to know the truth behind it all.

"Shh, it's okay," he said softly, blissfully unaware of the further complications around this subject. He didn't actually feel very guilty at all, feeling like he had done what he must, and that if anyone should feel guilty, it was only her. But he didn't say that, as there was no use for the blaming game now. "Things sometimes just happen." Mostly when heat was involved. "It's okay — I'm still your friend." That was, he figured, what she was afraid of, but he wasn't going to let this get between them. He didn't want to let it, anyway, even if it might've been smarter to have.

She is glad that he gives her comfort rather than simply smiling at her children — their children. He still, in his own way, in the only way he could, cared for her. And that was enough. Their friendship had not been broken by this ordeal. It was strained perhaps, but far from decimated. She smiled sadly, knowing that things still wouldn't be the same for them despite this.

With that she bent her head down, grasping Koume's scruff in her maw. There was nothing more to say or do. She chuffed to Kotake, beginning to walk away, then turned back to Charon, taking one last look at him before heading home.

There was a yearning he felt for closeness, for being there for her and her children. She had a home, a pack, a family; he knew all of that, but still... Those were his children too, and Potema was his friend. It felt very abrupt when she left without sparing any more words, but somehow it felt like things were good between them again. Charon watched silently as Potema grabbed one of the pups and called for the other to follow her. He still wished he could've interacted with them more, could've hung out with them, but he knew there was no way that he could, or should, do any of that.

There were many words burning at the back of his tongue but none of them came out as Charon watched them depart. 'I'll come visit soon', he wanted to say, but he knew he wasn't going to be able to visit soon. It'd be spring soon and hopefully Ame's heat would fall earlier this year, meaning he'd be working all spring for the upcoming pups; if they were late, he could make a visit, maybe. He wanted to make a visit.

For a while he stood watching where she'd gone, until finally turning away to make his way back towards the rendezvous site and his actual family to fill some of the void Potema's departure had left behind.