Moonspear one more day

hoping for a @Liffey

Charon was worried for the whole mess going down with Blackfeather Woods; not so much for his own, for he knew that his daughters could hold their own if they chose to get involved in it, but because of Potema and the two daughters he knew he had over there. He wished that he knew how they were doing and considered going down there. Perhaps he, too, should come along to fight so he could jump in at key moment, but then, he was too afraid that the foul Redhawk wolves might take their advantageous moment and try to get rid of him then and there were it to come to that. It wouldn't be a smart move. Either way, many things were worrying; luckily Rannoch's health not one of them, as he was doing better each day and, on the brinks of winter, could finally start contributing to Moonspear to repay his debts. Charon preferred not to really see them as debts but rather as contributing because he and Liffey were now parts of Moonspear. Rannoch, as son of Eshe, still held a dear place in his heart.

Liffey was a bit of a different matter, but he had liked the girl when they had first met and she seemed nice. Charon was presently wandering the borders, hoping that he may run into her but not sure if she was as active a patroller as he, curious to see how she was doing.

Although very gregarious, Galaxy had spent so much time focusing on her studies (read: stargazing) lately that she hadn't been socializing much; it didn't help matters that she typically slept all day and stayed up all night. She saw her preferred pedagogues quite frequently, of course, her father and older sisters among them.

Feeling particularly hungry for company lately, the youth forced herself to stay awake following a night full of stargazing, climbing down from the upper reaches of the territory. She wended her way toward the borders, loosely following Charon's scent but keeping an eye out for anyone else on the way. When she passed a cache, she sniffed through its contents and made a quick breakfast of a dead vole.

She didn't cross paths with anyone upon continuing, though as soon as she spotted the Alpha male, Galaxy made a beeline toward him. "Hi, daddy!" she chirped at him, even though he was one of the wolves she saw most often. Her nose touched the underside of his chin before she turned and swept the neighboring lands with her mismatched eyes. "Are you going exploring?" she wondered, mistaking his nearness to the borders as an imminent road trip versus a patrol.

Charon hadn't expected Galaxy to show up at the borders, but then again, she had been showing more and more interest in exploring lately. "Hey sweetie," he greeted and he nuzzled the top of her head after she nosed his chin. He remembered that he had been much the same at her age; he always loved to go exploring when he was younger. Just because she was still his little girl didn't mean she was actually still a little girl — she was growing up, and it made sense that she wanted more. Things were arguably dangerous outside at the moment, but Charon didn't think it would really help to forbid Galaxy to go anywhere. Better he simply come with.

"I'm patrolling the borders to make sure they stay safe and marked," he explained in answer to her eager question about exploration. "But if you want to, we could look through the Glen a little." He looked in the direction of Firefly Glen and then back to Galaxy to see if she was interested in his suggestion, expecting excitement and cheer at this suggestion.

Liffey had begun to find some solace within the ranks of Moonspear, though it was by spending time outside of their borders. Her friendship with the members of the pack was growing, but still felt a bit tenuous given her wariness of the cerberus. So, she had turned her focus on scouting and spending time wandering the nearby Wilds in service to the Spear, bringing back news of large game and gifts of smaller game whenever she could manage.

She was headed out that day when she crossed the path of Charon and his porcelain daughter. Liffey had never liked kids much when she was younger, but she had started to come around as she matured, and now the sight of the pair brought a soft smile to her lips. She hesitated to intrude upon their father-daughter moment but shortly determined that it wouldn't hurt to at least say hello, and so she turned to approach on soft, white paws.

"Hello," Liffey called out gently as she came nearer to her packmates. Her ears slid back as she smiled and lowered her head respectfully, her tail waving gently.

"Oh," she replied, trying to hide her disappointment. She needn't have worried about it, though, because in his next breath, Charon invited her to go check out the glen. "Oh," she repeated breathlessly, pale face breaking into her trademark beaming smile, "yes! I'd like that."

But before the two of them could head out to begin mapping the uncharted wilderness just next door, a voice called out to them. Galaxy turned, still smiling. She recognized the she-wolf, albeit only vaguely. Nonetheless, she called, "Hello!" as if the two of them were old friends. "We're going exploring! Would you like to come with us?" she invited, canting her head to glance at her father, hoping it was all right to ask along some additional company.

Her initial disappointment was soon replaced by enthusiasm as he invited her along for a quick trip outside of territories. When Liffey came into view Charon realised that he'd hoped running into her earlier, and he smiled at her, feeling none of the tenseness or possible animosity that his daughters held. She respectfully approached and Charon chuffed a curt greeting back while Galaxy greeted Liffey with her usual fervour and enthusiasm.

Liffey was quickly invited along by Galaxy. Charon looked at Liffey, missing out on Galaxy's look for approval, and he tacked on, "Yeah, why don't you come along. We're going out to Firefly Glen for a bit." With situation still tense, it was likely the safest to have another adult along, just in case. "How are you settling in, Liffey?" he asked and, if she would accept the invitation to join them, he'd pass the borders and start making his way to the Glen.

Liffey had intended only to say hello and then be on her way, but when the invitation to join the pair came, the young wolf's eyes brightened with enthusiasm. She hadn't wanted to impose, but the offer to spend some time with her alpha and an actually friendly daughter was far too tempting to pass up. She grinned and nodded, glancing between the pair. "I'd love to come along - The Glen is actually one of my favorite places," she answered, stepping forward to follow along as Charon led them past the borders and into the Wilds.

"Things are going well, thank you," the Frostfur answered as they began to travel, "I've gotten to know the pack lands fairly well and I've started exploring the surrounding areas more. " Liffey tactfully left out the part where it seemed like his daughters wanted to injure her - that somehow struck her as a bad political move. "I haven't gotten to the very top of the Spear yet to see if you actually can smell the stars, though it's on my bucket list," she glanced at Charon with a smile, remembering the conversation they'd had when they'd first met.

She agreed to join them and Galaxy beamed, tail waving. "Why is it your favorite?" she wondered aloud before adding, "What's your name again?" Perhaps she should have been embarrassed to admit that she didn't know it, yet there was nothing self-conscious about her candid expression as she regarded her pack mate.

The youngster lapsed into silence as they began to move, the two adults exchanging conversation. She smiled serenely as they walked, eyes eagerly combing their unfamiliar surroundings. Eventually, Charon's and Liffey's voices faded into nothing more than a pleasant hum in the background, as Galaxy drank in the sights and smells.

Speaking of which, she abruptly twisted her neck to peer at Liffey. "The stars have smells?" she asked, clearly mightily intrigued. Her gaze flashed to Charon's face, ever inquisitive, then back to Liffey again. "I've never smelled them before." This wasn't said with any skepticism at all but with wonder. She did shoot Liffey an apologetic look for possibly spoiling her dreams but then brightened again as she said, "I wonder what they smell like?"

Galaxy was quick to overload poor Liffey with a hundred questions, and Charon just enjoyed that she was getting grilled right now so that he didn't have to answer all of Galaxy's questions about, well, everything. He told her what he knew, but sometimes he made up stories about the shit he didn't know. Not like she'd ever find out he was lying, anyway. They came into motion and started making their way to the Glen.

He quirked an eyebrow as Liffey said that she was looking to climb all the way up to where she could 'smell the stars'. With a grin he said, "Oh, really?" Galaxy meanwhile asked if stars really had smells and then went on to wonder what they'd smell like. "I still haven't reached Moonspear's tops yet. I did get a bit further this summer than I did last year, but I'm not sure there's any safe routes all the way up there." After a beat of silence he suggested, "Maybe we can try again next summer." He said this to Liffey, suggesting she join him, though as an afterthought wondered if Galaxy would want to be included in such a thing too. She was only a little child now, but she was growing fast. Hard to imagine she would be more or less an adult next summer (though she'd always be his little girl, too).

"I imagine they smell like the dust dragons' wings leave behind when they fly and pixie sprinkles." He glanced at Galaxy to see if the story was impressing her at all.

The young female was quick to pelt her with questions. Liffey was surprised at her enthusiasm. Her only experience with young wolves had been her own cousins, and while they had been noisy enough, they'd never seemed particularly excited about her personally. She knew that her own disinterest in them was to blame, but still, it was strangely nice to be regarded this way. "My name is Liffey. And it's just a nice place," she answered, "Pretty, quiet, peaceful. And on summer evenings, it's full of fireflies for chasing."

Her attention shifted to Charon in a way that I assume followed normal conversation. She smiled at his comment, nodding her acceptance of his proposal. She was eager to climb the mountain as high as she could manage, though it did make sense to hold off until Winter was over. Snow and ice did not make for the greatest of mountain climbing conditions, or so she assumed considering how difficult they had made even the Caldera's modest slopes.

He looked to Galaxy then as he answered her question, and Liffey giggled to hear what he had to say. She tried to think of something clever to add, but she wasn't really the creative type. Quick-witted, yes. Imaginanitive (wow, I cannot spell) imaginative? Kinda. Creative? Nope. She could certainly appreciate that quality in others, though, she she kept quiet to allow Galaxy to prompt him further - as she felt certain the girl would.

Her father had an answer, of course, which caused a serene smile to spread slowly across Galaxy's pale face. "That sounds about right," she murmured, pleased. She glanced to Liffey before opening her mouth to speak when something white fluttered down from the sky—several somethings, rather.

She nearly went cross-eyed as several small white flakes came to rest on the bridge of her muzzle, their touch cool. Her mismatched gaze then lifted to watch as many more of their ilk drifted downward like a scattering of ashes. She had seen snow near the mountaintops, even experienced it for herself, yet never before had the pup seen it snowing before now.

"Oh, daddy, Liffey, look! Is it pixie sprinkles?" she questioned jokingly, eyes dancing merrily as she regarded Charon, "Or stardust?" Galaxy glanced at their new friend again before gazing upward and opening her mouth reflexively, letting the snowflakes waft into her mouth to melt on impact with her tongue.

Just as they were making their way to the Glen -- Charon couldn't help but agree with all that Liffey said; it was one of his favourite places, too, for all the reasons she just mentioned -- it started to snow. Galaxy noticed it first, as it was a foreign thing for her; a thing that took Charon a moment to realise, as at first he figured the snow on the mountains would make it so that this wouldn't be new; but then he realised that it snowing must be different for her than seeing snow.

Charon smiled at Galaxy's playful suggestions in regards to the snow that started to drift down on them. "It's snow," he was then quick to explain. "The same stuff that's on the mountains, except it comes down to the rest of the world in winter time." After a short pause he added: "Once everything is snowy, you'll be able to hide much better, since the world will be your colour then." Convenient for hunting, too.

Galaxy accepted her dad's explanation easily, and Liffey grinned. Kids had a unique ability to accept whatever they were told to be the truth and so their realities had the ability to be so very different from what it actually was. She wondered if it was a quality some kids were able to hold onto even as they aged. She envied those that could. The world had been far simpler and more magical back when she had believed the stars could truly be her friends. She was beginning to realize that she hadn't really had any friends since she'd left the Caldera... Rannoch had become her entire world. Liffey glanced at Charon and Galaxy as snowflakes began to fall upon their matching white pelts, deciding then that she couldn't let that be the case anymore.

"You'll be able to almost disappear in it," Liffey added, "Your eyes will stick out, though, so you'll have to squint to keep them hidden too." She squinted her own eyes to demonstrate, pulling her muted gray lids down over the brilliant orange of her irises until they were merely slits. She held it there for a moment before blinking them back open, smiling and wagging her tail.

i'll fade this, but would love a new one sometime!!

Charon chuckled when Liffey said that Galaxy could hide in snow and vanish for all but her eyes. It was a shame it wasn't quite white enough to try it out now, or he would've made Galaxy hide and then would've pretended he could not see her. Children were so easily tricked, it was funny, and he was sure Liffey'd play along too because she was cool like that.

"C'mon, I see the fireflies in the distance!" he called out towards Galaxy and smiled as he set in a gallop towards the Glen, eager to show her some of the world.