Moonspear filling me with wonder for all that is

a mist had settled over moonspear; a cloak of pale grey that enshrouded and ensnared the stone capital in solemn silence. arcturus glanced over the brooding cliff face, hunger stirring in his belly as he studied the vale below.

he was not still for long. walking past @Revui he picked his way down between boulders that stood like rough-worn sentinels, and trotted once he had hit flatter ground. here the grass grew in thick clusters, and the mist had settled dense at the foot of moonspear's snaggled roots. around them a quiet seemed to settle in the valley. arcturus' ears worked silently atop his head, but the rest of him was carefully still.

✴       Although it was Arcturus that resembled a shadow most obviously, it was Revui who was as silent and as dreary as death or something equally nefarious; he followed after his brother easily with the aid of his powerful strides and at times competed with him for the lead. It was natural, at least for the silver boy, to push limits and try to be in control even if it was just a game to pass the time.

Together they roamed. When they came upon a set of boulders and the thick shag carpet of dried grass, one brother stopped. The other did not—not at first. There was a scent in the air that made him curious and he was an impatient person, not likely to stop and examine things the way his brother did. Revui ploughed ahead a few feet and then stopped and chuffed over his shoulder, eager to keep moving.

the air was thicker here, lacking the crisp tinge of moonspear's hearth. arcturus had paused while revui plowed on ahead - he watched his form briefly before lowering his muzzle to the ground in rumination.

the bent blades of grass would have been enough for a keen tracker to notice; arcturus was not so keen to catch the broken strands of green, but he had caught a lingering scent that was partially lifted by the morning dampness. he looked to his brother meaningfully, but knew then revui had caught the scent too.

quiet as his little paws cared to make him, arcturus stole through the thicket following his nose intensely.

✴       They shared a glance. A soundless understanding flowed between the brothers that might've outclassed the connection of the twins (but that was debateable and always would be). Their connection was something else entirely, and it worked.

Together they circled back until the scent seemed fresh, and Revui wanted to bay for his brother's attention despite knowing it had not wavered; instead he ducked his head low for a moment and investigated a patch of flattned grass.

He went on a few steps and spied a tree which had an obvious graze line to the branches, indicating that some sort of ruminant had been here. It was not something he had been taught to see or understand, yet he did. Revui looked to Arcturus to gather whether or not he understood this, and then took off, racing along the undulating hillside with the wind in his ears.

perhaps it was in their nature, being creatures of the clan, to work soundlessly together: perhaps, as siblings, their blood beat to the same imperceptible tune. arcturus did not question the mode of their communication - he understood it innately, and that was all that mattered.

as they coursed through grass and fern, revui paused - arcturus shoved his nose in the patch of grass his brother had inspected, confirming for himself the scent that still lingered there. his silver-tipped brother drifted to a tree and arcturus followed suit, catching the lingering of his brother's gaze on the bare strips of bark.

he nosed the base of the tree almost immediately, sifting through pine-straw with his snuffling nostrils. after a few circles, he had detected the strongest scent. he raked his claws along the loam as if to mark their quarry' trail, and then he followed its winding path through a glade of tall firs with slants of golden light cutting through them.

✴       It was upon them so swiftly that Revui hardly had time to react. He was a slower beast - lumbering like a bear, while his brother was the sleek panther - and as he passed through the intermittent daylight, a rectangular figure burst forth from the chiaroscuro after him. It moved swiftly on stilted legs, wedging its chest against Revui's flank and knocking him off course. He spun and buckled from the weight of its momentum but loosed a snarl too, and tried to catch the earth to retaliate.

His snapping teeth were met by the flailing forelimbs of a doe. Her eyes were big and wild, and she flailed for a few more moments before staggering and swinging her crownless head like a club. The scent of birth was on her — but Revui did not recognize this, not like he had recognized the evidence of her presence before. He was too frenzied in his retaliation and distracted by his defence to notice the trail of afterbirth that led deeper through the wood.

arcturus' head was down when a bronze flash flew through the air - in a second he was bowled aside, and watched in a mixture of horror and surprise as it flung itself towards revui. its long limbs worked with a spider-like fury, slapping down with hardened cloven hooves -- it took the dark cub a moment to recollect his wits and recognize their assailant.

normally it was the other way around - they assailed deer -- arcturus was rightly confused by the doe's unusual belligerence, but he swung into the fray all the same.

with a growl he was flanking his embattled brother. the doe was furious and quick, while he was somewhat baffled and slow- more than once his advances were rebuffed by the quick slap of a hoof. each time he pulled himself up from the earth, and came again.

he was tiring, but revui's energy seemed to seep into him: with a desperate drive, arcturus braved the stronghold of buffeting hooves and and lunged for the doe's flank. he was soundly whacked, but his proximity prevented too much damage, and his teeth clutched the soft fur along the doe's ribcage.

renewed by this small victory, arcturus doggedly held on -- unaware of the young sweet-faced fawn nearby that the doe was protecting with her life.

Quickie so he doesn't go inactive.

✴     Together the brothers would hound the mother deer until she was run ragged, bleeding and stooping as weakness overtook her. Still she did not buckle; Arcturus had her by the ribs, snapping and tearing, while Revui bludgeoned and harassed her head-on, but the creature was like a thing possessed. They had ripped her flesh. They had severed tendons. One flailing kick was made useless because of a hanging ligament, flipping about like a thin bloody tongue. Revui found he was relishing the battle even when the doe's energy began to wane. He enjoyed every bit of it, chiefly the way in which the two of them worked together, but there was an intoxicating sense of superiority about the whole situation. She was so weak — so helpless — and still would not die. He licked blood from his teeth and charged again, and the doe did not shift in time to avoid his crocodile grip across her throat.


  

young as the boys were, they were imbued with a feral and hostile vigor; arcturus held fast to the bleating doe, his teeth clenched resolutely around the slack fur in her flank. she buffeted him more than once, each hoof a sting with a following insult -- he closed his eyes tight yet refused to relent.

when he opened them his brother, instinctual as the settling drift of shadow, had seized the doe's throat.

still, arcturus did not relent.

he was dragged for meters then, his small weight still a hindrance to the struggling hind, which gave her all in rebuking the savage rent of his teeth. yet revui's blow was sapping, and soon she was bled of her vigor and collapsed across the thin-bladed grass. her wide eyes tremored and she looked upon her doom with silent pants; and still, arcturus did not relent.

✴     Together they could bring down anything, and this event would solidify the prowess of the two of them working in tandem within his mind; he knew he could count on his brother above his other siblings for they shared a deep connection (perhaps not as deep as the twins but it was still something). The doe would not last much longer. Revui could taste the sour note of blood on his tongue as he bit down against the soft flesh of the creature's throat, and while it stamped and kicked and tried to ward them off, soon it was tiring and the boys would have brought about her end. Revui couldn't stop the natural grin of his crocodile teeth any more than he could prevent the thrilling sensation that took hold of his entire body when the doe began to suffocate.

When she finally stopped fighting them, knowing her end was coming, her lethargy brought a sudden change in Revui. He shook his head and felt the pinching of his teeth in to the creature's throat but the doe did not fight it; he rumbled a sound in the back of his throat to goad more activity from her but to no avail; soon the creature was limp in his grasp, and he released her — spat her out like a used up piece of bone that no longer held interest. The red of her blood was coursing down her neck from his bite but Revui didn't end things there and then. He watched the bubbling liquid, cast a glance at Arcturus, and then began to stalk away from their first would-be kill, utterly bored.

His heart was still thundering in his chest, but the adrenaline had begun to subside and Revui was looking for something to top him up again. He didn't know why he was thirsting so badly for that sort of thrill, but he had felt something so intense when he'd found that doe — and so he began to backtrack, finding her trail and the strange scent of afterbirth mingled with the drying mud that her bolting body had created, and that was when he found it. It smelled new, with a sweetness like he had never noticed before. The fawn was coiled up in the grass but it lifted its head when he appeared, curious and utterly innocent to the danger Revui posed.

Moments later, and the new thing was squealing for its mother and Revui was backtracking from that patch of hidden greenery, his teeth set in to the base of the babe's neck, and he was forcing it to come along as he exposed it to both the struggling mother and his beloved Arcturus. The babe could barely walk, and Revui more or less dragged it kicking and shrieking in to the open. Once he released it he looked to his brother with a bright expression and his tail fanning above his hips, more than pleased with himself. He'd found a new toy.


  

arcturus could feel the ebb of the doe's life beneath him; it was a solemn moment, and he was suddenly aware of a great weight in his jaws as revui abruptly released her. she slumped in a limp posture, her eyes unblinking, yet taking in still the sorrow of the scene before her -- arcturus still did not release his hold on her as his eyes trailed the tracking form of his brother.

at length revui's designs were revealed, for an impossibly small creature was exposed from the tall grass, squalling in terrified bleats as it was hauled callously towards him. he blinked slowly, hunkering down across the doe's still form; she stirred and he placed his paws across her belly, a deep snarl rumbling in his throat to still her. he was interested in the tiny form revui had entrapped, yet could not bring himself to release the creature he had struggled so dearly to fell.

✴      Arcturus did not heed his brother, and so Revui tried to coax him over with a few deep boofs, but it became clear that his shadow wasn't going to leave the struggling doe without reason. Revui snorted and paced between the doe and its offspring, unable to determine which toy was of more interest to himself, but he gradually formed a plan. Once the idea stuck in his mind, he barked to gather his brother's attention, and then reached for the fawn. With one swift reach-and-snap, he'd grabbed on of the spindly little legs and rendered it useless; the babe shrieked and then lay pressed against the dirt, shuddering, until the shock settled in to its body.

Then, he returned to the doe.

If the deer was so important to his brother, then he'd play along. It wasn't a very energetic thing at this point but the sight of the pooling blood drew Revui closer to the head of the animal, where he settled. The doe's eyes were misted over but after a few snaps at the air in front of her face, she seemed to rouse and stare at the silver boy, called to attention but with a wandering gaze that drifted towards the crippled fawn. 


  

arcturus had assumed his brother's disinterest came from the fact he had heard something in the underbrush; yet as he made quick work of the fawn and decimated its limbs, arcturus learned too late the doe was no longer holding his brother's attention simply because she had ceased her struggling. where arcturus thought perhaps a bit too linearly, revui thought well ahead -- simple arcturus, thinking this kill was for food and not simply play.

he watched the fawn, unsympathetic; the value of life had yet to be instilled in him, but the value of a kill -- that had been hammered hard into him, by his brother, by his parents, by the iron fangs of hydra: a kill, arcturus understood.

as revui hounded the suffering doe, arcturus watched her reaction; she seemed to weakly lift her head, her gaze lingering on the pains of her child. arcturus reluctantly let go of her then, stalking over to the fawn to nose it curiously -- it was so tiny, so small; and smelled strangely of viscera and a dampness he had never scented before.

✴      The mother could do nothing but watch as the wolves gradually took notice of her fawn. Revui was intent to investigate the misty-eyed creature as she dreamily observed his brother; as Arcturus drifted closer to the fawn, the doe tried to call her child close, she bleat sounds that meant nothing to the wolves, and the fawn could barely do anything. Revui's ears turned at the sound of movement and then he glanced surreptitiously after the fawn as it sort-of came to, but it couldn't do much. When it began to cry, Revui let out a huff and tossed his brother a look.

What do we do? He was asking his shadow.

They could kill the doe and maybe with the help of an adult, stash her body. That would earn them praise from mom and dad, he assumed. But what of the fawn? It seemed like a worthwhile toy to keep around — but maybe the adults would take that too, and Revui didn't like the idea. He seemed to make up his own mind after some slow thinking, and abruptly turned towards the suffering doe, his bloody teeth glistening, as he set to work tearing in to her.

He could save the fawn for later.


  

as arcturus' shadow slipped along the ground, the fawn winced -- and rightly so, for the dark-furred boy was not gentle with his inspection of her. roughly he nudged the soft curve of her belly, scenting the mixed bouquet of flesh and blood that sprung from her slick hide.

a sound gave him pause and he looked up; revui had changed course, and with a barbaric earnest had dived into the helpless doe. the sight of sinew parting from flesh, bright blood welting to the surface -- all of it was innately desensitized to the boy, who forgetting the fawn and remembering his hunger lurked towards his feasting brother.

he would have to wait; though hungrily he circled the felled creature and her assailant, his blackened back raised and head low as he encircled in a narrowing drift around them.

✴         Whereas typically the boy was a voracious creature who struggled with self control (at least where his hunger was concerned), he might've been slicing up the doe but he was not devouring her. It seemed that his gluttony and destructive nature were reserved to things already dead — and this, whatever this was, he wanted to extend for as long as possible. He tasted her blood and was aroused in a way that he had not experienced before. The doe struggled, and he grinned through his bloody teeth and swallowed a piece of her.

When he was sated he looked coyly to his brother, and with a drag of his tongue across his lips he abandoned the doe, giving Arcturus a chance to do what he wished with it. He watched the doe as she began to slip in and out of conciousness and didn't think anything of it.


  

he prowled around his brother and the ungulate he tormented; arcturus' eyes sharpened with a hunger, and an instinctual, base bloodlust consumed him.

it was not a ribald or raging bloodlust, but simply an instinct that commanded his will and shut out his thoughts; obedient to it he fell upon the doe as soon as revui's form lifted from it -- with hungering grabs he snatched what flesh he may, guided by some unseen hand to assail the wounds already inflicted by his brother.

if uncontested, arcturus would eat his fill -- each snap of his jaws willful and powerful, whilst the membrane in his eyes eclipsed their yellow counterpart, and he was left a bloodshot, forsaken look. he would eat what viscera he could manage in greedy gobbles, and bloody his body in the process; all the while oblivious to the doe, her suffering, her fawn, or the lurking form of his titan brother.

✴        The doe wouldn't last much longer, if it was still alive. The scent of its exposed viscera was stronger than the smell of the bloodied fawn and that kept Revui's interest for a little bit, but then he noticed something else — above them among the tree tops, some crows had begun to settle. He heard them more than he saw them. It wouldn't be long before the rest of the family noticed them too, and then the doe would be up for grabs by anyone. They couldn't play for much longer — but Revui looked to the fawn now, fixing it with his bright eyes and malevolence.

Maybe it knew what was coming — it had somehow managed to get on to its new limbs, staggering more than the average newborn because of its injury, and managed a few steps before Revui was drawn towards it. He came up behind the fawn and nipped at its tiny haunches and it, quaking like a dry leaf, bleat a sad and needy note for its mother. Revui couldn't help but chuff softly with laughter, and then he bunt at the thing with his snout as if to hurry it along. He was more interested in making it move versus hurting it, and soon was herding it along while the murder grew overhead.

arcturus was heedless to the gathering storm of dark wings that collected in trees above. he was heedless to the fawn's pitiful bleat, heedless even to his brother's shepherding of the piteous creature: all that filled is vision was the glut of swelling intenstines and blood-matter.

once he had eaten his fill he lifted his muzzle from the warmth of the shocked doe's belly, looking curiously on the spectacle of revui herding the limping creature. rising with a grunt the boy jauntily trotted after his brother, his head low with predatory interest as he tracked the fawn's limping progress.

he hadn't gone very far when the flutter of something settled behind him; arcturus turned round sharply, his sights falling on the cluster of crows that had wasted no time in plucking the doe's felled form -- with a roar he spun and charged after them, belligerent as an irate boar.

✴        Revui was fully invested in the fawn at this point. The movement of the birds in the treetops didn't elicit much of a response from him as he continued to snap at the young thing, pushing it and sometimes forcing it to pick up the pace — until he was quite a ways from Arcturus and the dying mother. He only looked over when the birds started to take interest in the exposed vicera of the doe, and even then it was because of Arcturus' own violent reaction to their arrival. Revui temporarily paused and watched his brother move about the crows with more natural finesse than the silver boy could ever muster, and he grinned a bloody, wolfish smile through the trees.

arcturus would not tolerate the presence of carrion-fowl on their kill; a possessive snarl rumbled in his throat and he whirled and danced around the prone doe, his thin limbs snapping up and down as he thrust himself towards any bird brave enough to attempt landing.

after a few mighty shows of force the crows had temporarily been warded off; they mustered their forces along the weighed limb of an old oak, clacking their long beaks in raucous disapproval. as arcturus cast them an equally deplorable grimace, he realized revui was no longer with him -- casting his gaze along the treeline he caught a glimpse of his brother's bloodied smile and returned one of his own, standing proudly over their first true kill.