Moonspear obscura

@Jarilo (if you want!)

✴        Revui had been looking for his brother but found it difficult as the day transitioned to night, for obvious reasons. He couldn't sleep without knowing where Arcturus was, and he knew he wasn't on the mountain slopes — or maybe he was upon the lower reaches doing a sweep of the borders. Either way, Revui was alone and wandering the passages leading to the north face. As he climbed he came upon a bald patch on the mountain and crept through the grass, feeling the autumn air blustering across his back. Once he was in the center of the field he looked up, expecting to see stars but finding layers of cloud. With a snort, he settled on his belly and waited for his brother.

After a long day rounding the lower reaches and helping keep patrols fresh while his sisters were still gone (for how much longer? who knows?), he had drifted upward once the day spanned onward and he knew his usefulness there had been tapped out. He recharged quietly, mainly by loitering on one of the more milder stretches of mountain--however scenting Revui near meant anything but mild could await. He knew better than to relax, and before he could be the one stalked upon, he went tracking after the younger grayscale Ostrega first.

From his vantage, he came towards him light on his feet and with bright eyes that truly suggested his potential for mischief. He was sure to exaggerate his prance just enough to not be too overly noisy, even if stealth wasn't quite his main intent here.

But while he trotted up, he wasn't fool enough to ignore how here in the grass, it was almost tranquil of him all draped in new nightscapes. Jarilo didn't trust it yet, no matter how quaint. He said nothing before trying to pounce close enough to fondly bite at his brother's flanks with just a little more force than truly necessary, context considered.

✴        He was tired. Laying there in the cool grass was a refreshing change since he was usually up and about, and the longer he lay there the warmer the soil got. He was content. Then, when he heard the approaching steps of someone, he readily lifted his head and tried to get a good look. He thought maybe it was Arcturus.

He shifted one more time to try and get a glance, and at that point his other brother was striding on over, nipping at him playfully. Usually Revui was all for games and hijinx, but not this time. He flashed his teeth and rumbled a little sound of malcontent, and if Jarilo stopped so would he.

Nipping teeth aimed, he was still weighing his options, and based on Revui, he was curious what apparent peacefulness he was up to out here. "What, no bite back tonight? What's the occasion?" he snickered to his rumble, though he didn't expect any real answer to accompany his question--his brothers were not wolves of words most times, after all--and the yearling batted lightly towards and at him with a lifted foreleg. He feigned some disappointment in the motion, but didn't press it longer, or with more vigor than that.

Striding forward, he circled around to place himself front of his younger sibling. Jarilo still wasn't sure and still didn't trust a tired-looking puppy all the way, so he stayed on his toes in case this was a ruse. Nothing suggested it might be. Yet. But, sniffing in his direction, he doubted he would get very many answers otherwise unless he realized them on his own.

✴        Jarilo didn't take the hint at first, and so Revui opted to snap at his flailing paw as it drew near to him. He didn't reach or put much pressure behind his efforts, but the intent was there - the message clear. Stop it. He didn't want to play. Once things calmed down a little bit, Revui shifted his weight and got comfortable again but he made sure he could look at the sky, too. His gaze traced the many stars and he mentally made shapes out of them — but when the quiet became too much, he chuffed to get Jarilo's attention, and then surprised them both by saying, Stars.

By the heartbeat, he did settle when his brother failed to rile and quite obviously suggested otherwise. He only considered pushing it for a half-second but instead put his paws all on the ground, stilling them soon after. He was happy to let the peace settle, although with Revui beside him, it was not quite so familiar.

Neither was the voice that broke the quiet. Not exactly. He had never heard it like that before, but somehow he knew it already.. pieced together through the growls, snarls, grumbles, whatever else he had ever heard from him before. That had always been the voice he knew Revui to have. Evidently, the stars brought it out of him. "Yeah? They are really out tonight," he observed, now with his nose pointed up to clear, vast skies that he now only noticed because his brother said so.

He was quiet for a moment as his eyes traced from star to star, only lingering on the boldest ones. Then he glanced back down to Revui and carefully lowered his haunches to a sit next to him. It was good he could appreciate the skies too. Something about this fact confirmed here warmed his heart, somehow? Next to the mountain, and the family they protected upon it, the endless sea of night above always seemed important to their blood. "Up here on a good night you can see so many, and they all have a story... so I've heard.." he said, unable to even name any except the biggest, brightest ones himself, as he was sure to contrast his one-word brother entirely.

Sorry for being so slow.

✴        Although Revui wasn't one of those beings that put much stock in the spoken word, he found himself listening to what Jarilo was saying all the same, and was drawn to the concept of stories. Stories about the stars? What sort of stories could one have about them? They're so far away, and who knows what they really are. But his interest is piqued, and he suddenly lurches towards Jarilo in an otherwise out of character effort to be closer to him; he pauses only to say, story, now. 

His ears twitched at the demand. Well! Jarilo slicked them back next and tilted up his nose. On the edge of being indignant about it, but still caught off guard about his brother's voice at all, he tempered--keeping peace in mind. How could he not? "Our dad's got the details way, way better than I do.." he warned before attempting to muster something secondhand that their father had told him once, and there were even a few from mom too. He filed through what he did know, hunting--and deciding a few were out of his league at trying to re-tell, especially when they were the excessively bizarre ones. But really making it fit the bill of story was difficult. "So harass him if you want the good ones done right. But there's a lot of them about mythic beasts. Like a great powerful bull, a celestial eagle.. even a dragon."

He was hopeful that this got across. This was one that had stuck with him. "It's supposed to be this great big powerful serpent represented in our sky always keeping watch. It's easiest to find the head by four bright stars close together--I think those, maybe? Or.." He gestured vaguely northish with a point of his nose but had no way to pinpoint anything besides what naturally caught the eye. "The rest of it curls around the sky, protecting all in its reach and then some. I think it got the stars because it was so good at that--keeping watch over whatever's important," he tried to explain.

<3 it's cool with me, i'm super slow too lately ofc

✴Revui doesn't notice the annoyance playing across his elder brother's face, but he wouldn't likely care even if he did. He is rarely sitting still and rarer still, willing to sit and listen to words. He is patient but his patience is hair-thin, but he doesn't have to wait too long before Jarilo succumbs and begins explaining things. He points out a cluster of stars and rambles about their father—but the image of this sky-creature, this massive snake encircling the world, slithers in to place in Revui's imagination. He wonders what it would be like to be up there, and remains silent and watchful of the sky.

When the silence goes on a touch too long he grunts, garnering his brother's attention, and glances at him with a curious expression on his face—stars brightly reflected in his gaze. What's it called?

After a few more settling breaths later and he could almost find himself able to relax a bit in earnest. The constellation? Draco, he answered back with a click of his teeth and glance to his brother before back to the skies in endless rotation. Practically dragon, so it was one an easy one to remember in a big scattering of names that often accompanied the skies and their vast mythos. Pretty sure it has other names too. Most of them do, depending on who is telling the story. But that was a big one that seemed to be the most easily recognizable. It never leaves the horizon, so is on guard all year. the yearling added, further driving home the part of mythical guardians landing a place in the sky.

✴Draco.

Revui did not know what a dragon was, not really. He stared at the constellation regardless and felt a weight pressing upon him, comforting him, although he couldn't recall the last time he needed comforting. If this thing, this dragon, never left the horizon, then it was always watching them. It was guarding the mountain, guarding the family. Revui liked the concept; he hoped one day to become the dragon of the mountain too, or some such creature. The leviathan was more appropriate — this thing, lurking in the dark, ready to break any enemy that came for them. The boy's eyes were half-lidded already, but the more he thought about this — the more relaxed he became, giving in to the sense of protection afforded by Draco — the sleepier he got. Until, of course, the inevitable happened. He'd drifted off to sleep, where he would dream of all the creatures of the world bowing to him upon the mountain.

After he said them, he considered his own words quietly, eyes set firm on the stars overhead and yeah, finally, he was relaxed. Many things had many names for the same things (constellations, plants, places, wolves), and everything everywhere seemed so uncertain sometimes, yet was it? Maybe it was all just part of nature--the duality of things, two contrasting points to one whole wrapped up in some ritualistic cyclic. Maybe they didn't know enough to it to even tell. Jarilo could sense the edge of something profound here, but between the two of them, they had no actual business, so he let it go.

Some time, he realized the subtle shift in his brother's breathing and he glanced over at him to confirm.

The older Ostrega wasn't in the mood to just up and ditch him so soon, so he scooted himself in closer to curl up next to Revui. He'd stargaze a little longer, maybe groom behind his brother's ears just because, and maybe doze off himself. If not, well, this was fine too.