Moonspear the future is freaky ladies and gents

anyone!

Slavik's golden eyes couldn't be drawn away from his target, they followed the twitches of its bushy tail like a cat watching a laser pointer. He'd stalked the squirrel for fun, but he'd gotten to the point where it was purely serious; when all his thoughts were of his prey and how to catch it. He'd stalked it without detection so far. The squirrel didn't have the slightest clue he was there, it just sat there, burying a nut for the winter.

His attack was sudden, he moved swiftly from his hiding place and rushed forwards, his jaws out stretched. The squirrel barely had time to think, before it was hanging limp in between his teeth. The large boy grinned, and looked around, half expecting someone to be there to compliment his form. He convinced himself that that was one of the best hunts he'd ever pulled off, it was swift and smooth and he'd made little mistakes. Nobody ever sees you at your best.

Unfortunately for Slavik, Charon had totally missed his performance. When the Alpha came into view because he'd heard something and decided to check it out, the squirrel already hung limp in his pack mate's mouth. It was good to see some food hunted this winter, though; they had worked on their caches, but they were not as impressive as last year because their numbers were fewer too. Charon vaguely recognised this guy -- what was his name again? Satin? Charon found it difficult to remember everyone's names, especially because many didn't stay long. If he was a stayer, then probably he'd remember whether or not this guy's name was actually Satin or Slayin or whatever. It didn't matter much for now.

What did matter was that the guy had been hunting. "Good job," said Charon, even though he didn't have any proof whether this guy hadn't just found a half-dead squirrel that he only had to off. But he'd learned through time that positive reinforcement worked, and it didn't hurt to make someone feel a bit better about themselves than they deserved every now and then. "Share a bite?" This was the pinnacle of positive reinforcement, really -- give them the idea they've got a choice -- because Charon had every right to just demand the kill altogether, but he was in a decent enough mood that day that he asked instead. He hadn't yet realised Revui was gone from the mountain, blissfully unaware and figuring that Lyra, Speedy and Ame were just taking care of him or whatever.

slavik on the other hand definitely knew who this wolf was. First of all he looked just like Vela, second of all Slavik had seem him around and made a point of knowing who his leaders were. It was alright that Charon didn’t know him, he hadn’t been too involved in the inner workings of the pack and he was one of the newer ones. He’d make sure to get acquainted, as well as possible. Slavik was a social guy, getting acquainted was his thing.

The golden boy didn’t know whether or not Charon had seen his hunt, but he assumed he had since he was being congratulated. His tail began to wag, and even as he dipped his head in greeting he couldn’t help but asking, did you see that? He probably seemed pretty childish for being so excited about catching a squirrel, especially if Charon had no idea why it was so exciting to him. Guess it’s just one of those, you had to be there kind of deals.

The alpha asked to share, and Slavik gave an enthusiastic, Of course! Here you take what you want bro, I’ll eat whatever’s left. He dropped the fattened rodent and nudged it in this speckled male’s direction, humble at least in sharing. He was hungry yeah, but he was just fine to relish in his stunt and let someone else take home the prize.

thanks for joining!!

Charon didn't actually see the hunt at all, but while he was on the subject of positive reinforcement Charon decided that he would humour this guy, who was clearly proud like a child who'd just had their first hunt. "Yeah, that was brilliant." Whatever. Of course Satin then humoured him by telling he could have whatever he wanted of the kill. As it should be, even though Charon didn't intend to eat it all. But he was pretty hungry.

"Thanks," he said half-heartedly, though it was clearly the kind of thing you say out of politeness that you don't really mean. Charon took the squirrel and tore off a limb that he started to eat. It was all a little dainty and small for his liking, but it would do; a fresh kill in winter was always a feast of some sort. "How have you settled in?" asked Charon between bites.

Slavik could sense that Charon’s next comment wasn’t exactly genuine, but still it was a compliment and Slavik could only smile. Thanks, he replied, then let his fiery enthusiasm cool down to a laid back simmer. Charon gave thanks for offering his kill, he nodded and replied simply, no problem. He watched as the other male began to eat, and a sudden tremor quaked through his stomach and he felt a tiny bit regretful for giving away his whole squirrel. Hopefully he would end up with more than the scraps, but if he didn’t, well it was really his fault.

How have you settled in? Slavik honestly had had a rough time at first, it was quite different here from his home pack, and far more different from the lone traveling he’d done for the previous half year. But he was getting used to it, and beginning to enjoy himself as a member of the Moonspear pack. Charon only needed to know the latter, Good! I’ve been good. It’s nice to be a part of a pack again. He sat down, and let his tail swish behind him.

Charon had only thought to eat about half of it, but he was hungrier than he had expected, he realised as he started to eat. The leg was easily devoured and he started on the rest of the carcass, moving on to the tender bits on the squirrel's body. He supposed that Satin must not be very hungry if he was giving his Alpha the whole thing, or 'however much he wanted' -- maybe he had wanted to cache the rest. Well, whatever. Charon would just eat 'til he'd had enough, and then it was up to Satin whether he'd cache the rest or eat it all. Regardless, Charon was quite content with this food, noting a few bonus cookie points for Satin (or whatever his name was) in his head.

It was good to hear that Satin was glad to be part of a pack again. This made Charon wonder: "Where do you come from? Why'd your leave your previous pack?" There were all sorts of reasons, of course, and probably (or maybe) Ame or Hydra had asked him when he joined. Charon didn't judge wolves overly much on their previous lives, but he was still curious to know.

i love satin haha

Slavik looked on with a itch of remorse as Charon continued up from the leg, and it seemed he wasn’t going to stop. Ouch, his id was screaming at him. But he also knew it was the respectful and kind thing to do, so he suppressed his regret and decided to be happy that Charon was happy.

He had a feeling this question was coming next, it always seemed to. Being a loner and meeting a new wolf every day, the ‘where are you from?’ question had almost become as routine as a simple hello. So his answer came easily, I’m from a pack called the Kendry’s, we lived out on the plains south of here. I loved my family, but my sister wanted to leave when we hit the one year decision, and she sort of convinced me to come too. Then she dumped me, and I was pissed for a bit but then I found Speedy and she told me about Moonspear. This was the simplified version, much more had happened in between, and there was much more to say about his family, but he didn’t feel the need to share more unless asked.

welc to the Charon Show: World's Worst Listener :')

Charon listened to Satin's story about his pack, something-or-other, but there weren't many notable details. The only thing that struck the Alpha as a bit odd was, "One year decision?" because, like he himself had when young, his children still lived upon this mountain and none of them had ever seemingly considered leaving. Except for the only one that did, anyway. He had never considered it might be common practise elsewhere that wolves would strike out on their own as yearlings.

Anyway, none of it was particularly striking, and Satin told the story in a way like he had told it a hundred times before, too, which made Charon grow rather bored. "Oh, Speedy's your sister? She's cool," he said, completely oblivious to the fact that he was totally misinterpreting Satin's entire story and mixing up details.

haHA slavik’s mind:

Slavik had blustered on without much time for questions, Charon’s almost caught him off guard. He wasn’t sure why it didn’t occur to him that the one year decision might just be a Kendry thing, he paused to address it. It’s this tradition kind of thing with my pack, when a pup reaches one year, they have to decide whether or not to stay with the pack or leave and start their own life without the help of the family. If you stay, you don’t leave, and you devote your life to the protection and care of the family, if you leave you just can’t come back.

The more he thought about his family’s traditions the harsher they seemed, but still they were the traditions and he couldn’t change them. He could only hope that one day he might see his parents and his other sister again, since his return was not an option.

As Slavik finished he was asked another question, except this time he had no idea where the notion had come from. Speedy... his sister? No. Wrong. What? What had he said to spark this idea? As these thoughts rolled around inside his brain his face was a blank half smile, clearly a little confused. He shook it off a moment later and cleared it up with a chuckle, Not, uh not... no. She’s my friend I met out traveling. After my sister left.

LMAO :')

Oh, it was some sort of tradition from Satin's pack. Sure. "What an.. extreme ritual. It's not common here, I'd never heard of it at least. Most of my children still live on this mountain." Of this he was pretty proud, and it showed in his voice. Charon couldn't imagine doing some sort of ritual where they all had to choose to stay or leave and if they chose to leave, they could never return. Though he wasn't sure what he'd do if Julia ever did return, Charon could not fathom treating her as if she was no longer his daughter.

What happened next confused Charon a bit. He was pretty sure that Satin had said that it was his sister, really, but whatever. Let this dude believe whatever he wanted to believe. "Oh, right." There was a silence then, one that Charon did not find particularly uncomfortable himself but could easily be perceived as such, after this misunderstanding; Charon just continued to eat, meanwhile having eaten about half of the squirrel carcass and happily digging through the tender bits of the chest/

Slavik nodded at Charon’s reaction, because the one year decision was definitely extreme. But it wasn’t his idea, or even his parents. It was one of his ancestors plans, a tradition created to keep the pack small but loyal. Not something Slavik really agreed with, but wasn’t that the nature of most traditions. Charon mentioned that most of his kids still lived here, Slavik smiled at this. If he ever had pups, he would want them to stay close too. I’ve met some of your kids, you look just like Vela, this was obviously no surprise to Charon, and Slavik instantly realized how stupid that sounded. Yikes he was really struggling today whas goin on y’all.

The golden furred boy really had tried to explain his relationship to Speedy, but the alpha male still looked kind of confused. Oh, right, he said, and Slavik just nodded. Yep. The next pause might not have been awkward to the older male, but the yearling had no idea what to say now, and he had the feeling that Charon thought he was a dumbass. Charon continued to chew at the squirrel, Slavik glanced away awkwardly, finding the nut his squirrel had dropped suddenly extremely interesting.

lol someone help this mofo :”)

lmao, I'm a fan of Slavik :')

Slavik mentioned, on the subject of family, that he looked just like Vela. Or rather... Yes, Vela does look just like me. Charon grinned as he said it, wondering if Slavik caught the intent in his words. The pack's Beta, Hydra, is my daughter too. And her sisters, of course; but Slavik would find out about them sooner or later, probably.

There was silence as Charon chewed. When he'd eaten the tender bits of the chest and there was nothing left but the two hind legs, Charon paused and said, Want the rest? He got up and left the remains of the squirrel on the ground, offering the meager leftovers to Slavik.

<33

Slavik was saved from his shameful occupation with the nut when Charon replied with a grin. Oh good, it didn’t sound like the alpha thought he was a fool, maybe he could play it off like he wasn’t. He grinned in response, when the speckled male corrected his statement. Right, my bad, he agreed with a chuckle and a nod. Charon went on to talk about Hydra, the other daughter of his that Slavik knew. I know Hydra as well, I’m a hunter to.

When asked if he wanted the rest of the squirrel, Slavik’s eyes lit up. He paused though, not wanting to get ahead of himself, You sure you’re done? he said to be polite. He didn’t expect a no, as Charon had already stood and moved away. Heck, even as he said it Slavik was moving towards the remains.

Finally Satin seemed to relax a little. It seemed that he'd already met Hydra as well, which didn't surprise Charon. A lot of wolves in and around Moonspear knew her, and she might've been the one to take him into the pack, even.

At Charon's offer Satin looked almost too eager. Charon was almost tempted to make off with the remains of the squirrel just to see how he would respond, really. But being a father had softened his heart, perhaps, for where young Charon might've chosen the impish response, Charon now nodded. "Yeah, have fun with it. See you later, Satin!" With those words, Charon started to leave; he'd only stop if he received anything other than a good-bye of sorts from his company for the day, otherwise he would leave his pack mate with the food.

I’ll archive <3

Charon confirmed that the squirrel was all Slavik’s and the boy nodded heartily, getting ready to eat, when the alpha said his goodbyes to... Satin. It took Slavik a minute to process that he was Satin, the smile on his face slowly melted into a look of befuddlement. The confusion on his face was surreal, where had Charon pulled that out of? He looked up from his meal, and cocked his head to the side as he watched the alpha leave. Words formed on his tongue, but he decided against them. Later maybe, for now the squirrel was more important.