Moonspear I scorn their hatred, if they do but fear me

maybe @Ness ? :D

It was night and some time had passed since Charon had informed Flóki and Amekaze of Dhole's betrayal. He was not so sure what to make of all of it, but above all else he did not recognise the burning sensation that ached in his heart. He was used to feeling hatred when others betrayed him, and he had been left by others too many times to feel like his world was falling apart and crumbling at the seams each time. Yet he felt it now, felt an empty space in Dhole's absence, and he had not realised how close he had been to her until now, perhaps. Despite his constant teasing about her incompetence, he had truly, really cared for her.

So many things had happened and Charon decided to take some time to himself and sit upon one of Moonspear's ledges that night. He stared off into the stars and he could not help but wonder aloud, "What greatness awaits after yet another stab in my back? Why have you taken her from me?" He frowned as he looked up into the stars, but they were silent as the night, as always.

EEEEEEEEE C:

Ness returned from a scouting venture to the outside toting three crows crushed neatly together in a mostly bone-and-feather sandwich between her jaws. She was quite proud of the tow, if only because she was fascinated by the tenacity of carrion creatures. A flock of crows were swarming the nearly picked carcass of a day old doe killed by some creature or another. After chasing away the crows and realizing that there was nothing but skin left for the birds to peel off the bones, she started to go on her way, but paused as the crows began to return without her making it ten feet away. It took three of their comrades deaths for them to stop returning to the carcass and getting picked off by a lurking white wolf.

And so she came across Charon with her quarry, and upon noticing his expression, came up and deposited two birds before him, and scooped one towards herself as she sat. "Looks like you could use a pick-me-up."

thanks for joining :D

Her approach was barely noted as he focussed on the stars, and only when she settled beside him and offered him a piece of her recent catches did Charon focus his attention to Ness. An ear turned towards her as she spoke and he then turned his face to look at the crows. Charon took one between his front legs and lay down on the ground. He then started to pick feathers off the bird; it offered a welcome distraction from his worries and woes for the moment.

As for her words, which took a moment to settle in his mind and for him to formulate a response, he grimaced wryly at them as his mind once more drifted towards the traitor Dhole. "One of my best friends abandoned us willingly," he said. He imagined the news of Dhole's departure was no real news to Ness, considering Dhole had been one of the pack's greatest assetts and she'd gotten around. "Dhole — Wildfire. You probably knew her. Everyone knew her."

When he moves, it's slow and tired— resigned to life and its inevitabilities. Ness understood the motions if only because she'd seen it many times in Deadfall. It had that name for a reason; and she wondered briefly if someone had died. Sliding down to her elbows, she held the bird neatly between her forepaws and began to artfully pluck her meal. She kept her eyes on her task, unwilling to look at Charon's disconsolate face, lest his woebegone mood taint her night completely. An ear twitched faintly at his words, but this made her look up at him, jaw slack and mis-matched eyes flashing alertly.

"What?" she spat feathers. That wasn't true!— but how could it not be, coming from Charon's mouth? Ness frowned, finding herself captured by his mood anyway, but she swallowed it definitively. She had willingly left her own people after all. Wasn't this just a way of life? "Why?" she asked, hoping that the quieter she talked, the less bitter she would sound.

It was no surprise to Charon that Ness was so surprised. Everyone was surprised, probably; everyone knew Dhole, and she'd been such a great wolf until Goober had ruined her. Yet while a lot of the blame fell on Goober's shoulders Charon planted a lot of it firmly on Dhole's own. She was a master of her own fate in the end, and she had had family and friend and a mate to support her. Charon didn't even really believe that Flóki would have broken up with her; it was probably part of the world that she was building around her to protect herself. Either that, or there would've been a very good reason behind Flóki's actions, and even then... Things could always be fixed if you fought for them rather than running.

Charon absent-mindedly plucked a few more feathers while Ness asked him why. That was a good question, and one Charon himself didn't even have a true answer for. He sighed lightly and said, "I don't know if you'd heard she was attacked. She hasn't been herself since then. And we all tried really hard to help her — I've even got someone fetching the guy who attacked her right now so that she could take revenge for what he'd done — but then one day she comes up to me to tell me she's leaving. I told her running away wouldn't solve anything, but she refused to listen." Charon narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw, expressive as always; his frustration showing clearly on his face as well as in his voice. It was still a bitter pill to swallow to know that Dhole had abandoned him so willingly.

She hadn't heard— how selfish of me!— but she could not find reason behind Charon's recollection of the events. She had been harmed, so she left the greatest and closest support system she had? To what end? Did she find a propensity for pain and now wandered in active search of it? Ness' thoughts reeled, and her appetite waned, leaving the bird stiff between her paws as she stared at it, uncomprehending. She was frozen for a long moment, completely still except for the faint lifting of the guard hairs around her shoulders; unease. Finally her body relaxed, and she hissed out a sigh, relieving herself completely of some hidden stress. The wave of anger tamed.

She started to pluck her bird again, a little less delicately this time. I just can't believe that! Wildfire, though? And how ungrateful... "I would've chased her out," she mumbled, unintentionally voicing her inner monologue.

It didn't surprise Charon that Ness was angered or upset in some way by the events that he told her of. Anyone would be — Dhole had been such an integral part of the pack and of many of her pack mates' lives that it was hard to imagine she would betray the pack. Charon just continued to slowly and meticulously pluck the feathers from the bird, as in his case the unease and feelings of betrayal had already settled and found a place somewhere. They were still uncomfortable, but he wasn't going to treat himself poorly because of it.

Ness mumbled that she would've chased Dhole out, and Charon grimaced wryly as he recollected the events that day. He had, in some way, done this — except his intention had been to keep her from running, to pin her down and, he wasn't even sure what then — lock her up somewhere under constant supervision until she became sane again? He hadn't exactly thought it through. "She ran when I got angry," said Charon. "She was already near the borders, so it wasn't a very far run. I didn't exactly have to chase her, because it was very clear that she wasn't coming back." He frowned darkly, feeling the betrayal of one of his best friends bubble up again. "I just don't understand why this has happened, but maybe it will be explained later. Maybe... Maybe something good will happen in return. Every time that something terrible happened in my life, something good's followed. Like when I was attacked and nearly died, I found Amekaze, and we started Moonspear. It often feels as though something is guiding my steps." He looked up at the stars in silent answer to who — he wasn't sure if it was because the stars were literally following his every move and watching over, if they decided his fate or if there was some other way that his fate was connected to the stars or gods or whatever was out there. The only thing he knew was that he was fated for greatness and he had proof of it. "Almost dying hurt a lot less than this, though..." he murmured and he briefly stopped plucking the bird, admitting for the first time that he wasn't just flaming mad at Dhole, but really hurt on a deeper level, too.

She listened to Charon, holding quiet and still as she learned a bit about her proud leader and the things that had become of him, shaped him. She realized the depth of his emotion too, as he recounted that near death was not as painful as personal loss. "Love hurts," the teenager sighed lamely, her own tidal wave of feelings subdued for the moment. She gave her head a shake to clear away the negative thoughts, and she began to pluck the bird once more to distract herself.

Though initially she thought Wildfire was being stupidly selfish, she also couldn't imagine her trial, and she couldn't fault a reaction that was different than her own would have been. Ness could no more expect someone to be like her than anyone could of her being like them. After a while she sighed. "Everything's easy until it's not, huh?" she smiled thoughtfully at her winter twin, and nudged him. "This'll pass. And she'll come visit one day... and you're either gonna be too happy to see her to care about what happened, or still feel sore about it. We'll just have to see, right."

want to finish this up since you are dropping out with Ness? so sad to see you and Ness leave, it was fun having you around! <3

"Yeah, I guess..." Charon muttered at her philosophical thoughts. He just wished that things had been different and that Dhole had still been by his side — where she belonged. Flóki's devotion was depthless and to see it crushed so violently by someone hurt almost as much as the sting of betrayal he himself felt at the departure of one of his best friends. Besides, it had also been at a time when the pack was already sagging in numbers. In was summer and so Charon reckoned they'd be fine, at least until the next summer arrived, but still...

He sighed wistfully as he looked up at the stars. "Care to look over some constellations?" The stars were always a great way to calm himself, besides Amekaze, and so Charon would stay here and watch them regardless of whether Ness wanted to stay or not.