Moonspear plateau phase

Weather: 27°F, foggy. Snow (3–6 in.) throughout the day.
Anybody is welcome; tags are who he's calling for. :)

Home. Dune took in a deep breath, the scents of his packmates thick upon the border. Corinna, the newest addition, was also in the mix, and he smiled gently at the thought of her. Their very first meeting had been terse, but now that they were pack, he felt he could make a friend out of her after all. Besides, he wanted everybody in the pack to enjoy his company, not just the ones he got along with easily at first.

He had not seen the owl all morning, and although he was hopeful that it was gone, he wasn't going to count on it just yet. Dune made his way to the rendezvous site, eventually settling into a nap that lasted a good few hours into the afternoon. When he awoke, he was lightly dusted with snow. There had been something on his mind ever since he had left for his little trip to the coast, and now that he was refreshed, he called for an audience with @Charon and/or @Amekaze.

Hydra had been near to the borders when his call came, and her tail waved as she made her way toward him. He had been missed, and she was glad to have him home. In closing the distance Hydra sought to reestablish him with their scents, moving to rub against him in a catlike fashion if he permitted. Her ears pricked, recalling he had called for her mother and father; she wondered if he might have found anything important out there. 

Or maybe, she fantasized, he was calling because he had decided to court her—

Well, that would be why she was not included in the call, wouldn't it? So, until they came she would occupy his space, happy to indulge her suitor. Hydra was not certain that was the case, but she very much so liked to think it. Dune was handsome, and a good hunter with a working nose. He also made every effort to establish himself among her family and friends, which she truly liked to see. 

Gesturing over his shoulder to the outside realm, she asked succinctly: learn anything new?

It was not Charon or Amekaze who approached, but their daughter, the beta, Hydra. She had been supportive of Dune's inclusion into the pack, and he greeted her with a soft, friendly whine. She greeted him with a brush along his side, which he welcomed. Hydra was smart and powerful, that much he knew. She enjoyed the chase (or was it being chased?) and seemed to enjoy his company.

She asked about his journey, and he nodded. "Pack on coast. Not threat." It seemed the very leadership there did not get along with one another. Moonspear's leadership seemed to be quite the opposite. They were in sync with one another. This was not why he had called for his leaders, but he would not brush Hydra off. If and when Charon and Ame arrived, he would let them know why he had called.

"Gannet ok? Leg better?" he asked. His friend had been in not-so-great shape when he had left, but a few days could have a big impact on the healing process. He wanted to know how Corinna was settling in as well, but he saved that for now and let the conversation take its natural course.

She had turned her nose up to the Redhawk howls at their borders a few days back and not gone to humor them—later she had collected what mattered from Hydra about Gannet anyway, and his choice to stay here even with an entourage from the Caldera ready to take him included. An unexpected note, both that they finally came at all and that he chose Moonspear. But that was neither here nor there right now.

Not simply because she was generally nearby anyway, but because she was truly interested in hearing about what he saw while he was out, she would go answer Dune's call personally. Although she was finding herself fatigued faster, and generally starting to slow down as she carried her extra weight, she still went steadily in his direction with a quick trot. When she found him with her daughter beside him already, she honed in and greeted Hydra first with a fondly rough nudge against her shoulder. Next she set her sights on Dune to find him seemingly no worse for the wear. She waved her lifted tail, glad he was back, and rumbled a low hello of her own while she figured out where this conversation stood so far—which knowing Dune, shouldn't be too difficult to decipher.

Pack on the coast. Hydra let out a "hmm" of consideration. Perhaps she would seek them out. What do they call themselves? Did they tell him? His next inquiry was met with a nod and a warm smile. He's doing better. Walking around, now, she expressed. His gait was the smoothest it might ever be, but there was still a limp. It was no deterrent for him, though. He seemed to be getting better by the day. 

When her mother approached, she heeded her with a wagging tail and the subtle lowering of her head. She respected the woman greatly, and never had a reason to question her authority. Hydra looked back to Dune, wanting to see how he might act and if this really had anything to do with (her imagination telling her that) the thought that he might want to court her.

"Did not say," he replied. "Smokestep and black wolf leaders. Black wolf reckless." Their leadership was shaky, that much he knew, and he had hopefully seeded more doubt by letting Smokestep know that his co-leader was also an idiot. Perhaps she would be watched more carefully or kicked out entirely. In any case, they did not have the bond that the leaders of Moonspear had.

Speaking of, there was Amekaze. Dune made himself smaller, showing the proper amount of respect to one half of the alpha team and the entire beta team. She looked weary, but he assumed it was for the same reason his own mother had looked weary around this time last year. Dune had no trouble putting two and two together. And it was this timing that he hoped would be in his favor.

The white wolf's attention was on Amekaze for the most part, but he did not ignore Hydra in the least. He assumed she would be part of this decision, too. He felt his heart tick along a bit faster than usual, but he began anyway. "Prove myself to Moonspear," he stated, not as a question, but as a fact. "Puppies come soon. I work harder." Putting this into words had never been the easy part. "Want recognition." That, really, was the meat of it.

While Dune had been hunting, scouting, and making himself known to his pack mates, it was not a totally selfless act. He was ambitious, and his current rank failed to reflect that. Sure, others had been here longer than him, but some of those had parted ways in a flash, so surely it was not only longevity that helped one rise through the ranks. If this came with terms, or even if it meant he had to prove more, he was up to the task.

She went into this open-minded, and settled in as his statements began. Amekaze couldn't disagree. "All true," she nodded, passing the smallest of glances to Hydra as she did. He had proven himself. He stayed, he functioned, and he didn't come dragging any nonsense baggage back to them (not that she had gotten a whiff of yet, at least). Mostly, he just showed up and went with the flow.. which she really appreciated when as he said, puppies were soon. Very soon.

Amekaze shifted her weight, vaguely uncomfortable, but now wasn't the time for any of that. Soon, she wouldn't care to concern herself with anything but those puppies and whatever they needed, herself included. "Alright, fair." It was a reasonable enough request for someone in good standing like himself at a time when she was easy to irritate. "When the pups come, and after, more hunts interest me. Lead ours." she said settling a long look onto the white wolf. When she normally defaulted the role of lead-anything here to family these days, she wanted her most prized ones elsewhere right now. Dirge was capable, too, albeit not this forthcoming with the want to work.. and Hydra, Amekaze wanted more on the borderlands, and as a direct link back to her for news as one of the scarce few she'd see in a few weeks.

Anyone (and everyone) could hunt, but she wanted his eyes on the bigger meals. Dune had showed her he could do the formal hunter role well enough when he, Charon, and Dirge felled the caribou, and that was what her endless appetite called for more of to come. Catering to this need of hers was an easy route to her favor, and secondarily, appealing to her interests of nosiness were not so bad either. She had to ask: "See anything good while you were out?" she asked, only barely squinting at his alien adornment this time.

The offer for Dune to lead their hunts was no small thing. Particularly when coming from her mother. It was a step in the right direction, which Dune seemed to be doing plenty, lately. Her eyes were appreciative as they beheld them, and there was no disappointment there, either. Of course before he courted her, he would want to be certain he was in a good position to do so. Hydra nodded, wanting very much so to see Dune lead their hunts.

When her mother had her next inquiry, she again allowed Dune to fill the blanks. She would not speak for him or his accomplishments in his findings.