Lost Creek Hollow And an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope

They'd settled on either side of a clearing for the night.  It had passed uneventfully, which was nice -- no larger predators trying to gnaw off their tails in the early hours of the morning or anything.  A good sign, surely.  The pack would probably be arriving sometime in the next twelve hours or so depending on how much they were being slackers, so @Terance and Treason would have to get moving if they were going to get more of the border marked before the rest showed up.

Mornings had gotten quieter as summer had shifted to fall, and though there were distant twittering from particularly stubborn birds that hung around, the wolves hadn't made too much of a fuss on their end of things to start the day.  Sure, there was some yawning and stretching and such things, but not too much in the way of actual conversation thus far.

Or at least there wouldn't be until Treason's wandering thoughts wandered in a direction that to her made perfect sense, but surely to Terance it would seem rather out of place.  And so she asked, rather simply, Was Moonspear a cult?

morning was as quiet as it always was, and terance had little to complain about at the hollow. except for that it was close to two packs, and that it wasn't a mountain, and that he had trouble orienting himself within the dense foliage... 

okay, maybe he had a lot to complain about. but terance kept his opinions silent, opting instead to let treason do all her own thinking and he just pitch in where it was necessary. but, today, terance was pounded in the head with a question that made little to no sense. well, actually, it made a lot of sense-- but terance was still caught of guard. he was in the process of scratching his ear with his hind-leg, and he paused, foot still up, to process the question that was asked.

"what?" he asked, slowly lowering his leg and looking at the beta. his brow furrowed as he thought the question out, morning fog blocking his quick thinking process. "no-- moonspear wasn't a cult," he said, rolling back his shoulders, "why?"

She tilted her head.  Really, it had caught him that off-guard?  She stretched and got to her feet as she spoke, A while back i ran into one of their members while fishing -- before that patrol where we talked.  He seemed normal enough to start, but once the pieces came together he seemed to desperately want a fight I wasn't going to give him.  Practically threw a tantrum, but apparently had no time or desire to find out who or what even was involved.  Blessed be the ignorant.  They were going to have fun starting wars if they weren't careful.  Why would someone seek vengeance but not the information that would allow him to actually get it?

I guess he was told Rannoch had taken a whole legion of soldiers or something, and who knows what other bizarre nontruths.  How else could a pack be that far detached from reality other than a cult?  There'd been like three fighters at best, from what she could recall.  It wasn't nearly as impressive as the guy had been made to believe.

It was kind of disappointing.  He was entirely blinded by his fanaticism, and apparently he was a new member.  Metaphorically at least.  The poor sap couldn't seem to tell Treason was practically begging to be recruited at that stage.  It was too bad his rather unhinged mind crossed him off Treason's list before she'd even finished writing him on it.

terance blinked as treason explained, waiting until she'd finished to interject. he supposed he could see how she thought that, regardless, the idea was quite foreign to terance-- who had lived there... not a part of a cult.

he sighed gently, and then said rather bluntly, "we left, we're traitors." and then with a few moments of thought, a gentle visual weighing of words in the way he dipped his head back and forth, terance continued, "rannoch and liffey wanted to start their own pack. i wanted to follow my friend. wraen wanted to follow me. bernard wanted to follow her. and so five wolves were stolen from moonspears ranks-- traitors." 

"there was more to it-- i left for more than just following rannoch and wraen for more than just following me... rannoch and liffey didn't feel safe there, which i never understood but accepted at face value," he added with a soft sigh, "moonspear is a family pack with fierce loyalty, we're traitors-- even though i don't consider moonspear an enemy and would never tell any of our wolves to treat them with hostility, i can't say that they would say the same." though, hydra had mentioned once or twice that on neutral grounds, her wolves would not interact with ours. and terance had never had any poor interactions with the wolves. well, never anything aggressive.  

"i also can't say what they tell their new members about us." clearly nothing good.

It didn't sound like there was much she was missing on the truth end of things, but that didn't change what she thought of the interaction.  Yes, and that was my rough understanding.  A pair and a few friends, but that is obviously not what they're telling people.  They're demonizing the lot of you far beyond what was reality.  That isn't normal.  It isn't normal to as it approaches a year, to make the story more grandiose -- to upgrade a couple of warriors to many and who knows what else.  It was a sign to her that something else might be going on.  If they were just trying to sound better than they were, surely the Moonspear wolves had to know that making up stories could backfire?  That was how to get your own people killed, how to start wars that shouldn't happen.

It certainly said something about the clout their leadership had that even something so unreasonable would be believed.  It was dangerous.  It is not normal for whatever they're telling newcomers to blind them with rage.  Maybe sneer a bit, sure, but to be as pissed off and ready to fight as that guy was, over something he wasn't even present for?  No.  She shook her head for emphasis.  Terance wasn't there, and that guy was obviously slightly unhinged.  Maybe things changed.  And not for the better.

a frown was present upon the still-waking-up beta, his brows creased. "yeah, no, you're right... this guy sounds like a fucking nutcase," he returned, though concern was still present in his voice. what gives, hydra? terance had never really picked her to be a 'blow it out of proportion' girl... but, then again, charon was the one leading the pack. 

"things probably changed," he agreed gently, still with a look of deep-thought upon his face-- but it was really just morning-processing. then he shrugged, and with a small, half-hearted smile, terance quipped, "maybe they are a cult now." he wouldn't put it past them, truthfully. the ear thing the cerberus had done was pretty culty.

Treason was pretty much ready to take on the day, apparently, but then again who knew how long her brain had been computing before she bothered to open her eyes.  She took a couple of steps towards him, tilting her head.  I suppose we probably don't have to worry about them showing up here again since we're farther away than before.  Probably a good thing.  Shrug.  Hopefully.  Then again, people could walk, so who knew what nonsense they were up to.  Either way, Treason didn't think she herself was in much danger from them, unless they had gone completely bananas.

Though if there are any of them you think will come visit to cause trouble, I'll be happy to mess with them. She seemed pretty amused at that idea, but then paused, canting her head the other way, Doesn't even have to be violently.  Treason just thought it sounded fun.  Something to plot and make them look foolish for going out of their way to cause a ruckus.

terance snorted, standing and giving a little stretch and a little shake of his fur. "sure-- treason, whatever you want," he returned with amusement, but shook his head, "i don't think they'll ever actually give us any real trouble." and he didn't, but of course-- times had changed. 

"anyway," terance continued with a wave of his white-tipped tail, "you ready to take a quick lap around the north side?" a small smile lingered on his features-- he was pretty ready to get this day started and stop talking about his past. this was their future.

Maybe it would turn out to be a bad thing that Terance had gone and in a sense given her a carte blanche to do what she wanted in that avenue, but at least for the moment it cause a brief and wicked grin to flash across her features.  Oh it really would be fun if that happened, wouldn't it?  She'd have to think up some particularly creative scenarios, though, just to keep her bases covered.

But oh well, for now it was time to deal with what was actually happening.  Yeah.  We can see what we'll get done before everyone else arrives.  Assuming they're not moving like slugs without us.  She probably would have pushed them all along if she could, as impatient as she were.

terance snorted. knowing the sunspire crew they were probably moving quickly-- but with pups the story could be different. "if anything the pups might slow them down," he said aloud, tail giving a few thoughtful swings at his hocks, "they'll be here soon." easy enough, terance didn't think that they had much to worry about-- anything to worry about, even. 

"let's go then," he added, giving his co-beta a quick nudge to the shoulder with his nose, and then brushed past her to make it to the north end. sunspire would be arriving at that end anyhow.

And so, back to the borders they went.  At least they had something to do now.  Better than nothing.  

Though he'd started away from her, that poke of his earned a sort of huff from her and there was the sound of her teeth clipping together.  She'd snapped at the very longest guard hairs along his side, likely catching none on purpose.  No matter how long she'd been in a pack with any of these wolves, she wasn't sure any of them could actually handle her antics if she acted without restraint.  Unfortunate, but oh well.  Maybe the new territory would be a new start.


Off to the borders to wait for the others!