Phoenix Maplewood The Astronomy Tower

XD

The elder's dullish blue-brown eyes moved to Tavi as she spoke up, and she nodded at the answer. "Do shit beneath it" wasn't wording that shocked her, even if Tavi was talking about actual poos.

Just as she turned her gaze back to the night's sky, Spring chimed in with a similar answer, and Shreya opened her mouth to reply but awaited Tavi's interjection. It seems you both have the same idea, she summarised before Spring could reply again. And you're both right. Now, as we progress would you like me to ask questions to each of you individually, or are you enjoying the competition?

Spring was about to challenge Tavi and get her to stop pushing her around, when Shreya cut through... which was probably a good thing that Spring didn’t have a chance to respond to Tavi’s remark.  She stayed neutral though, careful to not let Tavi see that she had gotten to her core.

“I’m sure we would both love to continue the competition, unless Tavi disagrees with me.”  Spring responded to Shreya in a pretty neutral sounding tone of voice.  Although silently she added in to herself in her mind to the sentence.  Again.

Competition? She wasn't aware they had a competition going. Tavi just didn't like Spring very much, and was lashing out little by little, as her rank permitted her to be more free with her statements. Neither of these two wolves could do anything without Tavi's permission; perhaps she was letting her rank get to her head tonight, but with the constant back-and-forth with Spring, Tavi was a bit on edge. Sure. Ask and ye shall receive. She responded, looking directly to Shreya as she said this and flat-out ignoring Spring. It wasn't like this would affect her rank anyway — it was just a little squabble with the added benefit of a lesson or two.

Shreya gave a single nod in response to both girls. A competition it would be. She would give a question, and the pair could see who could get it right the fastest. And so the old wolf gazed back into the still pond, where the half moon was clearly shining. Watching the moon phases is a good way of keeping track of time from month to month. There tends to be a full moon every month. So can you tell me when the next full moon will be?

Spring considered Shreya’s question to herself.  Well... the last full moon had been quite the while ago, so the next full moon had to be soon.  Maybe even within the timespan of days, but she decided to go with deciding the next full moon would be next week, just to be safe.

“Next week, I believe.”  Spring responded in a confident tone, although she was not as confident in her answer as she sounded.  She perked her ears in Tavi’s direction waiting to hear what the brat of a wolf would say, since Tavi almost always seemed to want to disagree with her answers.

Tavi scrunched up her face like she was thinking really hard - but that lasted for about two seconds, and then she just shrugged. When Spring jumped in with an answer, the Beta shrugged again in a nonchalant manner, because really, she had no clue. 
No idea. She's probably right. At the tail-end of her statement, Tavi realized how inexplicably tired she was; and a big yawn shoved its way out of her big mouth.

Think again, girls, said Shreya gently, looking once more at the moon. There was a full moon every month, and the moon was currently a half moon. If they doubled Spring's first answer, they'd be right.

Spring was surprised to hear her answer was wrong, so she glanced up at the moon searching for inspiration.  Surprised to see that it was half moon.  At that she almost instantly had come up with an answer.  Or at least she hoped that she now knew the answer, do to the signs of the half moon.

“About two weeks from now.”  Spring remarked confidently.  “In about two weeks we will have a nice perfect full, round moon to see.”  She added, sure that her answer was the right one now that she had clues to observe, such as the half moon.

The answer wasn't right, and Tavi was a bit smug, but honestly too tired to direct any glib remarks towards the gamma. She did shift her weight though, and pulled herself to her feet. Once Shreya had confirmed or denied this answer, the beta might just forgo the rest of the competition - for the time being anyway - and head for bed. It was getting late, and Tavi wasn't too keen on playing the game anymore. She was silent though, watching the old woman expectantly.

She nodded in the affirmative. But a good teacher could see when her students were losing focus, and she concluded that their lesson was coming to an end. Spring was on the ball, but seemed more interested than her rivalry than the learning, and Tavi looked like she was about to fall asleep. How about one more question, she proposed. Why does the moon change its position in the sky?

Spring thought about that hard.  Although she really did feel like she was doing most of the correct answer work in her opinion.  “I’m not sure, but I am very sure that Tavi knows.  I mean she’s very smart like that.”  Oh how Spring hoped Tavi would falter and get this question wrong.  She even found herself wondering whether storm gray female had even been paying attention.

Spring eyes flicked up to the dark sky.  Wow it was late, she felt her eyelids begin to droop.  Although this lesson had been pretty enjoyable... despite the occasional smugness from Tavi.  It was getting late, and she was tired.  Though she fought her tiredness and forced herself to stay awake.  Waiting with perked ears, to hear whether Tavi would answer or not.

Ignoring Spring was pretty easy at first, but grew more difficult the more tired Tavi got. She felt like snapping at the girl - or maybe dominating over her physically, at least to get the point across that she was of higher rank. However, she also didn't have the energy to care that much either. So instead, she gave a soft chuff and answered the question.

Because the ground is spinning. That was an easy one. Anybody watching the sky at night could tell, with shifting of the constellations, that the ground must have been moving somehow. Unless it was the wind pushing the stars around? This was entirely possible to Tavi - so she briefly doubted her answer. Or maybe the moon is moving too. The way the stars do. Meh, it wasn't important. Another yawn pulled its way out of her, and she felt her attention drifting again.

This time, the competition fell in Tavi's favour — motivated, perhaps, by Spring's sarcasm. Shreya nodded her approval — the first time she'd properly approved of Tavi. After all, the best way to respond to being mocked for a lack of brains was to sing out those brains loud and clear.

You're actually right on both counts, she responded to Tavi. Our entire world is moving, and so is the moon. The moon revolves around the Earth, and the Earth revolves around the sun. It's quite an intense phenomenon, so let's not go into the details tonight — you both seem tired. So I'll leave you to ponder the night's sky on your own, and we can always talk about it further at a later date.

Spring jaws almost dropped and a look of surprised when Tavi actually answered correctly.  The suspicion was true.  Smugness got you absolutely nowhere.  Although she felt kinda like venting, she didn’t.  Instead Spring made sure to be polite.  Tavi had gotten the answer correct anyways, the question had also been kind of complex too, which meant that Tavi did have a brain after all.  So Tavi had earned Spring’s complement for the moment.

“Good job with the astronomy question, Tavi.”  Spring complemented the storm gray female in a slightly friendly tone.  Then the brown furred female’s gaze surveyed the Maplewood’s surrounding the small group, they were beautiful how they kinda shone in the moonlight.  Although Spring didn’t really pay attention to that beauty that much at the moment.  She was too tired.  Maybe some other time she could stargaze.  Hmm... that truck up a thought, maybe she could stargaze with her pale furred friend Ishi, in some new foreign place.  That sure would be fun.

Spring then let a wide yawn fall out of her maw.  “I’m headed off back to my den.  See you both around.  Maybe we can do another lesson with astronomy some other time and catch you some more tasty morsels to eat Shreya.”  Spring told the other two and informed her part-time mentor/teacher.  Then she began to pad away, off to go find her den and then slip into her dreams.

Confirmation from Shreya was a surprise, but a welcome one. Tavi grinned a lopsided, tired smile at her; and the look turned a bit sharper, more toothy, as she looked over at Spring. Her compliment was heard but hardly acknowledged -- and soon enough, Spring was giving up the lesson for the night. As she strode away, Tavi lingered for a few moments longer. She looked to Shreya again, her face passive and sleepy. That was pretty fun. Thank you for the lesson. As she got to her paws, Tavi stretched out and felt her lower back give a few light pops - and then she casually nudged at Shreya's shoulder with her own, a fist-bump sort of thing, before heading off towards her own den. Was a good game. she slurred, controlling a yawn that wanted to override her speech, and then fell silent as she wandered away.

Thanks for the thread!

Thank you for your minds and attendance, girls, she replied to the pair, then smiled faintly at the little bit of peace that had fallen between the young ones. She waited politely for them to leave, then returned her attention to the stars. This time for her and her alone.