Lake Rodney night at the lake

@Phox !

With the pups growing and out of the most critical few weeks of their lives, Charon felt confident enough to take small trips out of the pack territories again. Around sunset he'd lingered at Nocturne Summit to watch as pinks and oranges painted the skies and the lands below beautifully, and now that darkness had fallen over the lands and the skies were dark and star-filled, Charon made his way down to the northern side of lake rodney for a quick drink.

The lake was dark and some of the brighter stars were reflected in its edges, giving off a beautiful image. Charon leaned down to drink and after quenching his thirst stopped and looked at the picture of sky and lake together, feeling in awe at the sight of such beauty.

The sun had set and with it the light of day. The stars and moon lit the night sky. Night was the perfect cover for Rouge with her ebony coat. At first she stood still watching this white male from a distance. There was a gentle wind that blew through and rustled the leaves of the birch trees. She was hesitant.

This was the first wolf she had seen in a long time. It seemed as though there were less wolves in the wilds these days, causing Rouge to go back to her lone wolf days for the time being. But she wasn't the same as she had been in the past. Now she was open to the idea of a pack and the members within them, but traveling around was still comforting to her. Especially when it was summer and prey was healthy.

Her tail swayed once, side to side, just before exiting the trees. She stood yards back over his right shoulder and asked "How's the water tonight dear?" 

So engulfed was he in watching the stars reflected in the water that he hadn't noticed someone approach until she spoke. He looked curtly over his shoulder then, showing no signs of being startled. The stranger looked neutral so Charon remained relaxed as he looked at her and took in the question.

"It's what's reflected in it that holds my interest," Charon said with a confident smile. He wondered if she was of a pack, and if she'd come out here to stargaze too or if she had other interests.

She looked at the water and sawing the glow of the stars light hitting the water. Moving to the water edge she could see it more clearly. "The stars are quite bright tonight."  she said speaking to his but looking at his reflection in the water. The question always with Rouge had been weather of not these wolves she found were part of a pack. In the past it was some kind of test, but know it was more of a habit to find out. "What brings you away from home so late at night?" she said assuming that most wolves were part of packs, rather then choose to live alone.

He nodded, glad that he'd chosen to go out on a day such as this. There were many answers he could give in return to her next question. He had a family and a home, but he also needed his alone time. He didn't like how limited his options for exploration had been since he'd become a father; and sometimes, one just needed to make time for these sort of things. Especially now that he was a second time around father he noticed that he knew a lot more about when he could be gone and when he was needed.

"Night is the best time to be away from home," he countered. "What better than to be accompanied by the stars on your travels?" He'd watched the sun set and now he was guided by the stars on his journey. Charon couldn't help but wonder, "And you? What draws you away from home this night?" He assumed she had one, since she'd asked him the question herself.

He said it was the best time to get away and Rouge thought that he might have meant that because no one would notice. It's true that the stars guilded those at night but Rouge wasn't too invested in them other then to figure out which direction she was going. But they did brighten up the night and their light glowed off her pelt nicely.

He then asked her a similar question for her to answer, to which she replied, "I have no home to return to at the moment. I'm currently a lone wolf as it were." No longer being so isolated and closed off from those within a pack she felt all right devolging this information to him.

"At the moment?" Charon answered with a quirk of his eyebrow. It sounded a bit like she had been a part of many different homes, to say that she didn't have a home 'at the moment', but maybe it was just him. He didn't spend too much attention to it, other than saying when she was doing talking, "Ah." She was probably out hunting then, he wagered, though didn't make much more of it. The subject didn't interest him much, as he was much more interested to return to his precious stars.

"I guess the stars aren't of much interest to you, then?" he suggested; "Unless you use them to navigate, perhaps." Stars couldn't be eaten and Charon didn't have a lot of empathy, but he was pretty certain that lone wolves didn't really care about anything but survival. It was a harsh world out there.

He seemed interested in the way she phrased her situation, but didn't elaborate on it. She though about her phrasing herself for a moment. Spoken from another wolfs muzzle Rouge could imagine that it could have been understood as wanting to be in a pack and or having been in one. In her case it seemed that both of them were fairly valid. He then went into talking more about the stars which seemed to hold his interest. 

"Well I think they are lovely to look at, but other then that they mainly tell me where North is and thus the other directions." she thought to maybe hold his interest by saying, "Though with how much I travel I should get to know them better. Do you have any quick tips to share?" Keeping his interest was on her mind, but learning more about the stars would help her either way this conversation would turn.

She did use them to tell the directions, he realised with a smile. She said it like it was the most normal thing in the world, but Charon knew not everyone was as proficient as she with telling direction. Some didn't even realise they could use the stars to tell direction. He had learned this young, when he'd travelled much as a youth and had seen many places. To return home he had used them to navigate.

"I mostly know a lot of stories," he admitted; "And constellations, but I'm not sure they'll be of much help. What's helped me a lot through my time of travelling is picking a high spot, then finding the place I want to go to. I'll look up and pick a star that's directly above that spot and just follow that star, no matter what." He wasn't too sure it'd be helpful for a lone wolf, really, who often didn't really know where they were headed.

Rouge's plan seemed to work seeing as how this male spoke to her about stories, constellations and his own personal tips. None of which was rather helpful to her as she knew most of what he suggested. But the fact that he navegated and moved around suggested to her that he was some sort of scout. Further more he was a scout in a pack excepting of scouts. Assuming he assumptions were correct this might be a pack she could join. Before she inquired into it she though to ask, "Oh, I haven't heard a story in awhile. Do you have any off the top of your head for me?"

Charon had expected her to take his tips into stride and thank him for them, and maybe for their meeting to be ended with that; or for them to just gaze at the stars a while in silence and harmony. But instead she asked for a story. He was a little disgruntled at that, but didn't let it show too much. Instead he shrugged nonchalantly, as though it didn't really matter much, and said, "Sure, uh — I can tell you a story about the eyes of Thjazi. He was a giant who captured the viking goddess Idunn. The gods wanted her back, of course, and they decided Loki must've been involved, 'cause, well, giants and stuff." Okay, so maybe he didn't remember the story as well anymore, but he knew the gist of it. "So Loki was sent to get Idunn back, and he manages, but he kills the giant Thjazi in the process. So his daughter Skadi's pissed as fuck at the matter, of course, and then Skadi's given a choice what god she wants to marry, but only by viewing their feet. She married some unimportant sea-dude because he apparently had really beautiful feet. Anyway —" He looked half like he was reciting it from a memory long ago, and half like he was making it up as he went along, as he had to think hard on what Thistle Cloud had once told him, "They also had to make Skadi laugh, so Loki stuck a goat to his balls and then she laughed. That's the part of the story most kids'll love." Charon had certainly loved it when he was told as a young boy. "And the last compensation was that Thjazi's eyes were thrown up into the sky and made into stars." Thinking about it, Charon wondered if that was really any good kind of compensation. If he were ever to die, he didn't think he'd want his eyes to be put into the night sky.

The male was willing to tell Rouge a story though it seemed as though he may have been a bit hesitant about it at first. He want on to tell her a story that eventually tied into their conversation about the stars. Rouge chuckled slightly at the more funnier moments in the story and listened to the rest without distraction. Not that she found the story to be overly interesting, but the night was calm and she hadn't been entertained with a story in a long while. 

After finishing his story Rouge applauded him by saying, "Very nice. Thank you." she wanted to find a place to stay for the night or maybe just go strolling, but it seemed this wolf just wanted some time with the stars and seeming as he wasn't causing Rouge any issues and was in fact endulging her, she though she would leave him in peace. But before doing to she wanted to ask. "I think I'll be leaving here soon... but before I go I wanted to ask. Is your pack in need of a scout, or looking to recruit any at this time?"

The story seemed to have been entertaining enough all around. She then announced she'd leave soon, and asked if his pack was in need of anything. It intrigued him that she would ask him such a bold question rather than introduce herself first. He still hadn't a clue what her name was, but then, he supposed it didn't matter. Neither did she. "Perhaps," he answered earnestly; truthfully, the pack was rather full and they weren't really lacking, but perhaps they could use another able body.

"We're not really lacking anything, so our standards are high." He'd liked to think his standards were always high, but truth simply was that they hadn't been very high when they had struggled through the past winter. Now the pack was strong, with his adult daughters to strengthen their ranks and they were doing well. He thought idly of Pyx, who he missed greatly, but soon pushed her from his mind. Just another who left. "If you want to join us, then I challenge you to find me three facts about this place that I didn't already know." 'this place' being the general area, of course. "Then find me at Moonspear. Ask for Charon." He gestured towards the large peak that bore sharply through the moon from where they sat with a confident smile on his face. He had nothing to lose, but she had everything to win, and he was curious if he'd see her again or if she would choose to find another pack because she wasn't willing to put in such efforts when there were more desperate packs to join.

It seemed as though there may have been an opening, and if there was it was small and hard to get through, at least for most wolves. Rouge though he skills of travel were in tack, but she had never been assigned to find anything specific. Even now she was asked to find infomation on things this male wouldn't know. She didn't know this male or what he would know about the area. It seemed to her that she would need to know alittle bit of everything to try and learn something he didn't. But it seemed as though she had time as he asked her to find him later at the borders of the Moonspear Pack. 

It was true that she didn't give him her name. Not on purpose but out of unconsious habit. Even in her last pack the noone knew her name and the leaders refered to her as scout. Still not knowing that she was depriving him of her name she want on to say, "Sounds interesting. I'll take you up on it..." she replied vaugly then turned away from him and began to slowly trot away. Before leaving completely she added, "See you around." then faded off into the night.

Charon wondered if he'd ever see her again, but whatever. He was in a choosy position, and he wanted wolves who'd put forward some effort for his pack and for him. This seemed like a good task for a scout. There weren't any follow-up questions, just a mention that she would do it. "I'll see you soon, then," he said and then watched her as she slipped off into the night.

He turned his gaze back towards the heavens and with a smile on his face watched the stars, feeling content to be among his oldest of friends.