Moonspear oh, this empty thing i've done

aw! in which arcturus' eyes first start to change bawww

 arcturus, as of late, had taken a fondness to inspecting the world around him, and comparing these objects of interest to himself and his family. this quirk had first developed once he was old enough to recognize that yami and yama were the same - at least, phenotypically.

at first, this realization made him feel incredibly left out, like he wasn't good enough - everyone had a counterpart except for him - yami had yama, vela had daddy, revui looked like jarilo -- but what about him?

and then, arcturus realized, after seeing his blue eyed reflection in a puddle one day, that he looked like hydra -- arguably, the most bad-ass of his siblings and certainly an object of idolatry to impressionable little arcturus. she bested him at every turn, taught him new tricks and played rough -- and every interaction he was learning --embodying -- the stern nature of his older sibling.

it gave arcturus a sense of pride to learn that his counterpart, his familiar, was shared with no other littermate but himself. he preened himself the way he had seen hydra groom herself, he tried carrying himself with the same composure, and he even tried his hand at imitating her throaty growls when it suited him.

and so, on a day like today, when he was reminded of how much he belonged in this family, it certainly came as no small shock when he paused at the rim of a rain-made puddle and met a reflection that did not quite reconcile with the shades of reflections past. arcturus frowned as he bent over the small pool, not unlike narcissus in his trance -- what was wrong with this puddle that it would show the clarivoyant blue of his gaze had suddenly become muddled?

convinced then the fault lied in the puddle and not him, arcturus rose on shaky limbs and looked desperately around him. another puddle, smaller and gleaming from the bright sun, caught his eyes and he bolted towards it.

yet the sight that greeted him, the uncertain eyes that peered into that glassy world -- those eyes too, were different. they seemed rimed by some foreign color, and the blue bled of its crispness. there, circling ever so slightly around the black of his eyes like an oilspill, was the dirty fringe of yellow.

arcturus slumped back into the dirt with a small muffled cry, his eyes squeezed shut as if that would somehow restore order to the chaotic upheaval of his little world.

Hydra did not seem to have preference over any of the cubs as she sought out which to take under her wing. Truth be told, she saw use in each of them—each cub seemed to have their own benefit. But Hydra did have a favorite, one she had determined to keep closest to her. She watched him, her young shadow, and was pleased with his progress and his displays. Of them all, she thought that Arcturus would find the most success in his life; he echoed all that she did, as no other Ostrega child had before, which meant his intelligence might be as her own. And his eyes were blue, as she and her favored and most beloved sisters. The death of Galaxy had cut at the Cerberus, and had effected Hydra, but what had come from this was another head.

She thrilled at this thought.

Hydra sought out her siblings, eager to steal one of them away for a brief break from her patrol. It was her shadow that she happened upon, and her hackles lifted as she noted his body language. The Ostrega bridged the distance between them in several long leaps, and sniffed at his withers without regard to his personal space. There was no external damage or scent of blood, and so she withdrew and circled him to stand before him.

Arcturus, she called, her ears pricking forward. What had happened? She had never seen him in such a fashion, and could not imagine what might make him behave in such a way short of some violence befalling him. Hydra often forgot that those that she observed were children, not machines, and as they grew would endure a multitude of challenging things.

small, half-stifled cries wracked his little frame, which seemed so overwrought with grief that it could scarce stem the overflow. his breaths came in shaky rasps, and the noises that pressed from his throat seemed neither sobs nor wails, but a strange and muffled whimper.

he was too consumed by the newfound flaw in his eyes to notice hydra until her cold nose pressed against his shoulders; he cared little by the perceived invasion, and instead turned round to face his sister, his muddled eyes brimmed with swampy tears -- instinctively, he pressed into any available part of her, burying his head so that she might not see (and consequently, hate) the abhorrent mustard color that blemished his otherwise exceptionally clear blue gaze.

He received her swiftly, and Hydra wrinkled her muzzle as he sought to cry within her. She had permitted softness in Korei Julia, once, and now the wolf was perhaps dead for all Hydra knew (or cared). She could not serve such an injustice toward Arcturus—though she stilled as she swore she caught a flash of yellow. 

Her sister's eyes. 

Hydra attempted to remove herself from him, her voice harsh: let me see, as she sought to sweep him over as she often did with a foreleg. If she succeeded in this, her critical gaze would seek to meet his own—she awaited the moment with bated breath, her tail set in its rigid line behind her.

he wanted to be consoled, to be held -- perhaps that was his fault his sister saw him soft -- and in this moment, he was soft. soft as a water-bloated corpse, soft as a young sapling -- soft as a rabbit's fluted ear.

thus, he was swept aside, limply as a sodden log. with one last inhale to steady himself, the small boy unfurled and dejectedly looked up at his sister's command.

arcturus had not spoken much at all his short time on earth, but as he struggled to place words into coherence, all he could usher forth into the world was a solemn and desolate "bloo."

He was a blooming flower to her light, but her lack of warmth meant she could hardly be compared to the sun. As he lay and looked at her, she saw the splintered hue of his gaze and was silent, even as he ushered forth his desolate and disappointed word. She exhaled a heavy breath as she looked to him, now stepping nearer to him and reclining gracefully to her hindquarters. 

His eyes were not quite so bright as Korei's. There was a shade in them that lent Hydra hope that he would not become her; she deigned to ignore the sobs that had wracked his form moments ago. 

She nosed him. You are mine, Arcturus, she decided, possessive, despite the color that had bled and broken his favored hue. It was that he favored it that mattered. She pressed her foreleg alongside his own, ears flicking forward. Blue does not matter. What matters is your strength, she explained. It is not my blue eyes that kill my enemies, though it made them quiver, it is these, she said, revealing to him her fangs. She put them away after a moment and demanded next: let me see yours.

arcturus remained prone before hydra, his sullied gaze resting for mere seconds on the fierce blue of her own. yet, he could not withstand such a consuming fireshow of brilliant beryl -- those twin swirling cobalt voids remained uncontested by any invasive yellow. two fervent blue spheres that boldly stared down the world, and witnessed no equal.

he was compelled immediately to look away, and did so. his eyes were unworthy, and he felt a new feeling sink into him. dejection.

but his sister, austere by even draconian standards, would not allow his psyche to fall to dispirited depths -- she afforded him a rare warmth, and seemed to extract him from his plunging melancholy with a show of fierce teeth. arcturus' tarnished eyes wavered, and he crinkled his little muzzle in a pantomime of hydra's fierce display. his thin, milk-white teeth were no match for the savage fangs that hydra bared, but it was enough that a malcontent stirred in his stomach.

arcturus' brow scrunched into a dark scowl, and he raised his lips again and again, jaws clenched and pink tongue pressed against his cage of small teeth.

Hydra observed him and was pleased when he obeyed after a short time. Her patience was thin and she might have left him otherwise, for her mother or father to console, but fortunately, his spirit was strong, as she hoped. He bore his fangs not once, not twice, but several times over. Hydra knew they were not as her own were, but though milk-teeth could not maim they could hurt. She was certain that when his true fangs came to him, that he would kill as swiftly as she did some day. 

In fact, Hydra would make sure of it. 

Good, she breathed, nodding sagely. Now, let's use them. Come with me, Arcturus; we must be very quiet, do you understand? She asked, her voice receding into a hushed whisper as she gathered herself to all fours. Hydra gestured to her side, her blue eyes flashing as she sniffed at the earth. Her tail swayed as she detected the scent of @Gannet, who would be their unfortunate and unwitting victim.

arcturus revealed his teeth again and again, imagining they held the terrifying curve his sister's did, or somehow, carried that lethal glint in them. he was so preoccupied with this that he forgot for a moment the troubling realization his eyes were changing -- perhaps that was hydra's intention all along.

abruptly then, his sister rose -- arcturus' fractured gaze followed her curiously, and slowly, his body followed her as well. he might have asked a quiet 'where going?' were it not for her next instruction: dutifully arcturus nodded, and swept after her as faithful and as constant as a little shadow.

With her brother sufficiently distracted and no longer weeping, Hydra, once he was beside her, prowled forward. She moved slowly, her stride a languid prowl, and she moved in an exaggerated fashion so that he could note what she did do, and what she did not do. 

She did not step upon the fallen twig, for example, but rather deliberately over it. And she did not ignore the rock that might bounce loudly away if she swept past it but stepped mindfully around it. When they drew nearer to their target, Hydra moved lower to the earth; she slowly slunk forward and sniffed at Gannet's latest location, and gestured for her brother to do the same. 

Hydra gestured for him to be still after he had done what she had first requested, ducking low to crawl toward the brush and spot the Omega ahead. His back was turned, and Hydra withheld a wicked grin—

He would not know it as Alya and Lyra would, and she did not expect him to, and so there attack could not be a complete and total surprise in the end. Hydra nodded to Arcturus, cue enough, and launched toward Gannet without further adieu. The Beta sought to bowl him over, and commanded her little brother to attack! with the playful sweep of her tail. Nothing quite lifted her spirits like a good old-fashioned, playful terrifying attack; she felt her brother would feel the same. 

And Gannet loved children, she knew—so, you're welcome, buddy.

Gannet was trying to find the trail of a weasel in the brush. He'd scented it higher on the mountain and ranged down, hoping to hunt down the small creature and maybe get a snack of it. He was preoccupied, having lost track of where it had gone next, and definitely not expecting an attack from behind.

When it came, he let out a sharp 'hrf' of surprise, but his hackles only lifted an instant before he recognized Hydra's playful call. Caught off guard, he was completely knocked off his feet, landing on his side neatly and a little breathlessly. His eyes flashed playfully, and his mouth opened in a half-grin, half-eager display of teeth, as he lay compromised. Likely they'd follow up on the advantage, but he'd be ready! The game was set and his prey was forgotten.

arcturus watched in amazement as his sister slunk off; the calculated measure of her limbs was not missed, yet unfortunately arcturus could not replicate the predatory ease hydra commanded.

once past the stick and stone (both of which arcturus paused to sniff before galloping after Hydra with the good sense to not disturb them) arcturus realized hydra's posture had become more intense. he slunk after her faithfully, his little ears pinned and fractured gaze following her every move - even as they came upon gannet.

too young to recognize that hydra's prank might have been cruel to the male, arcturus charged forward complicitly -- little growls sounding from his throat as he "viciously" crawled over gannet's felled form and delivered a series of small nips.

Hydra smirked as her companion fell to the earth, and she swung around to follow through with several light nips upon the Omega. Gannet was earning his stripes here, and she knew that in time he would rise from his station—he was proving himself to be loyal each and every day, and the Beta felt him a suitable guardian of her siblings. He was gentle with them, far more gentle than she herself was, and she did not worry for her brother as he crawled atop the pale Redhawk. She was pleased with his boldness, and his roughness, too—she imagined that as children, she and her twins were much like him in this moment. He had forgotten his self-loathing, and so two of her two objectives were met.

The Beta remained standing where she was, tail lifted victoriously over her back as she nipped at her friends whiskers. The win goes to Arcturus the Savage today, Hydra declared. Had he not charged into the fray as he had with her, she would not be so willing to commend him or grant him victory, but Hydra was, truly, pleased, even if her stoic expression did not reveal as much. Practice, Gannet, and you might stand a chance someday against my strong brother, she suggested. And here, before Gannet, the stomach of the dragon was revealed—though truly, he might have always known this as he had seen her reaction to losing Galaxy—and she looked to her brother and nodded.

Then she peered toward Gannet and asked, What were you hunting for? With interest. He had been invested in the task, and for his loss against Arcturus, she supposed they could assist him if the ruckus had not caused the critter to flee.

Gannet twisted as Arcturus leapt on him, delighted by the game but growling playfully beneath to meet the challenge. He returned a nip or two, careful to keep the pressure so light that he barely closed his jaws, but he was definitely stuck down with both he and Hydra on him.

When the stepped back he rolled to his stomach, grinning with his tongue lolled out as he panted, but not minding Hydra's declaration. Anything to teach the pup the knowledge of fighting and accomplishment, and besides, he wasn't much of a braggart anyway. His pride was rarely wounded.

Then she brought his attention to the hunt, which he had completely forgotten about. His mouth closed and he looked thoughtfully back at the bushes. "Weasel, I think." This had been better than a weasel anyway, and he could find it again, or another.

arcturus the savage indeed; as they swarmed their felled companion, arcturus went through every arsenal of attacks he knew -- it went something like this:

bite, nip, bite, growl, bite, nip, lick. obviously a extensive repertoire.

his teeth lacked any compunction, his attacks lacked any force, and after a few nips which were playfully rejoined by gannet's gentle teeth, arcturus settled himself into the fluff of gannet's breast and affectionately licked the omega's face, oblivious to the conversation being held by both adults, or what a 'weasel' was.