Moonspear the dragon's back rent asunder

Morale was at an all time low for the dark Rikudou(-Ostrega) meanwhile, hunger pinched up and down her underbelly as she wandered an empty trail. It felt as if all things had come to crashing to an awful halt in the wake of the locust swarm. This impending unknown did not sit well with her, as a creature of the wilds first and foremost, and secondarily as a naturalist. It hurt.

She was determined to maintain any bit of pack stockpile she could, all while the weight of choosing to stay here where nothing green remained (after failing to foresee such struggle) pulled her every step down. Amekaze wanted to believe they were resilient enough to wait it out, but as far as she knew, several of the pack were unproven in situations such as these. That, and a few had even evidently left the area entirely within the last half turn of the moon -- give or take, naturally. Some of these absences were more concerning to her than others, but above it all, it was simply more to contend with.

All of this manifested as tired muscles and a distinct sharpening to the perpetual prickle to her hackles.

She stalked on, finding nothing.

bump to present?

Charon was not much luckier, and didn't find anything on his journeys across the mountains in an effort to find some food. He decided then to head on to the borders, feeling frustrated. Their numbers had grown but food supplies were still at an all-time low. Yet he pressed on, knowing that after every bump that the stars made in his road he would prosper once more — in this case, probably in the form of bringing him children. He felt impatient as he felt that Amekaze's heat should have already happened by now (unaware that he himself was yet unable to reproduce) and he wanted his first batch of children, and wanted them now. Yet perhaps the timing wasn't all that terrible what with the disappearing herds — they would be better fit for travelling, if need be, and in these times where staying alive was hard enough as it was, it was better for Amekaze to not carry the weight of extras along.

Just as he was considering these things Charon happened upon his mate and it was with a fond, though tired smile that he greeted her with a soft touch of his nose to the soft fur behind her ear. "Care to join me for a patrol?" he asked grimly — for hunting had failed, and he'd rather do something that he was good at. Perhaps it would've been smarter to think of a plan, think of what they were going to do or look for food some more, but Charon refused all of that. He was in full ostrich mode as he proposed a patrol, yet that was what he needed right then; something he could do, something that wouldn't fail.

sure!

She tried not to stew, or sulk, but it was not easy when she was feeling so wounded -- and not even directly from injury to her. Seeing the mountain laid to such awful waste like this, stripped of all green, then topped off with a lingering hunger no matter what was a weighty toll to bear for far too long. She willed it to pass, for her to persevere, and for nature to be able to rebuild itself sooner rather than later. None of it was easy, though, especially as the moments slid away and the trail underfoot remained cold.

When she did finally catch the sound of approaching footfalls, it was not of the prey sort but was welcome all the same. Her tail mustered a few small wags at the sight of him and soon after, she nodded with a quiet "Sure." that paired with a sigh. She nosed briefly into the fur of his chest before turning her sights towards something new. "Especially since it seems this is not doing any good," she murmured as she prepared to shift course and focus away from the depressing dead hunting. "And I suspect you have not had any better luck," she arced a brow casually, but really did not want to spend much time on that subject. It only felt necessary to cover fleetingly at best before she could fully conclude those efforts for today.

If he would have had his way, Charon would rather not have discussed the poor state of their hunting adventures at all. Yet she brought it up, and he sighed lightly as she nosed through the fur on his chest. No more than a shake of his head was given before he lead the way towards the borders, unwanting to linger on the subject of food any longer. Talking about their lack of success and hunger only made him hungrier.

So as they moved towards the borders he said, "It's nice to see new faces in the pack. Let's hope they're competent hunters so they'll alleviate our hunger rather than emphasise it." Oops, there went his good resolutions not to mention hunger. Once more changing the subject Charon continued, "I suppose the first time wasn't a hit. When will you go to heat again?" He'd never been one for pussyfooting around subjects, so may as well be direct — Charon had no idea that he had yet a few months to wait 'til he was two years old and therefore couldn't yet put any buns in the oven. Never mind that now wasn't the best time anyway, what with the pinning hunger in their stomachs.

The subject shifted as needed and she bobbed her head in a slow nod. "It is good. I have emphasized hunting to any of them I have met with," she said, although it oftentimes felt unnecessary. Anyone with eyes or a nose could surely discern it for themselves. 

She moseyed along at his side, settling further away from the frustration of all things just some. Even so, when he moved the subject onto different matters, she took half a beat to catch up at the mention of it not being a hit. However, it soon came together and she found she did not have a good answer for this: the mysterious heat. But it was clear she had not conceived the first time, not that she had exactly been expecting it to have taken and a piece of her was glad -- the thought of feeding whelps here and now with hunting this bad made her incredibly uneasy. 

She knew she was awfully inconsistent. It even rarely came upon her in full, and she had once reasoned that had to do with conditions not being just right with her. She was notoriously sensitive to the environment and prone to blooming later than normal in many aspects, after all. It felt like she would approach the edge of it, feel the pull of such stirrings but take one look to the other side and simply unconsciously decide "not right now", with a body that gladly followed suit.

"Mhm, but I do not know exactly when it may -- it has not happened in full in a while, so perhaps soon, or whenever conditions are right," she answered with a furrowed look since she doubted that was what he wanted to hear. Ame did not wish to make him hopeful for something that may not come very soon, but there was always the chance it could come as a surprise. Had it not been for the swarm and consequential bad hunting, she would have been far more certain but that seemed like  enough of a stressor for her to hold off. "And you are anticipating it?" she asked lightly and smirked sidelong his way since she sensed the answer already. Surely, he sought the outcome of it and the bloodline it could bear between them, and for the Spear.

"Good," said Charon, thinking to himself, They'd better contribute. He wasn't worried, exactly, for he knew this was simply another setback before greatness would be brought to him, surely, as it had each and every time before. Surely he and Amekaze would produce a litter that would be unmatched in its greatness because they had withstood this. There could be no light without darkness; that was one thing Charon had certainly learned in his lifetime. It's always darkest before the dawn.

Her answer regarding her heat was ambiguous and didn't really give him much of a pointer — either she was lying because she didn't want to bear pups in this environment or she herself didn't know the answer. Charon guessed the latter, simply because Amekaze didn't seem the type to lie about such things.

She then asked if he was anticipating of it and Charon reached out to nip the tip of Amekaze's ear in silent response before empowering with words: "It feels like it's time, yes, despite the circumstances." Yet apparently Amekaze's body thought otherwise, which wasn't too surprising, considering the circumstances. "Does your family care about naming conventions?" Charon knew very little about his own family, except that his uncle was a grump with a good heart (somewhere in there); but he didn't really know what sort of names they cared for. In his case, Charon realised it was totally up to him. But he knew some families cared about naming rituals and so he decided to question Amekaze for hers.

She hummed thoughtfully after he did indeed confirm with his answer, and she found that she couldn't disagree. If it had not been for the locust swarm, she knew she'd be far more warm to the idea of right now too. While it was the idea of mothering, precisely, that had her a little less cozy, she knew it was what the mountain deserved and high time she upheld that aspect of alphaship. She wanted to see the Spear foster a growth all of its own from within, and Charon's interest in it was vaguely encouraging.

After all, in the end the Sunspire had faded with nothing to show for it perhaps largely in part due to never being able to truly grow from within. Ferdie may have once tried, but he had never stayed long enough to make it so. She, of course, had never taken steps towards it either. Nothing had been just right then -- from the environment to the male contributors alike and frankly, she was fine with it never having happened there. However, Moonspear had her feeling different about it right down to the bone.

She licked her lips and took a beat to consider his question. It was a curious rush to consider this, suddenly. "Not.. strictly. It was typical for my clan to have two names. I suppose like a middle name, but sometimes interchangeable -- so I could see myself honoring that if it worked," she explained. "My siblings were all named in part for weather-related events, and a surname that was ours first, an original for the mountain we were born on.. so we definitely did not have customs set in stone," she detailed. Her mother and father both had started new traditions in their respective times, probably even some that she did not know about anymore, so it did not feel appropriate to adhere strictly or entirely to anything if it did not end up fitting. This was theirs to shape, but an influence here and there from both sides was what she wanted to see. "What about yours? Or if not your family.. anything you want to uphold?" she asked. Had he put much thought in this yet?

Amekaze mentioned a middle name and said that her siblings had been named for weather-related events. Charon instantly wondered, "What's your middle name, then?" Amekaze returned the question, and though he had asked Ame about it, Charon hadn't thought much about it himself. Or rather, he didn't remember his family having any naming conventions and he wasn't really sure what sort of names he preferred for his children.

"I don't think that my family has any naming conventions. I guess I like the idea of middle names, but maybe they should be given later, as a sort of reference to the child's personality?" Charon was't even really sure where his own name came, but he had dubbed himself "Starchaser" at some point in his childish games of play. Maybe it would've been nice if that had been his middle name, given to him by his parents, because of his interest in the stars.

As an afterthought Charon said, "I guess referencing to my family might also be nice. My mom's name was Julooke, and she gave her life to protect my brother when we were little. Maybe, uhm... Julius, or something." Not that he was intending to name his unborn children already. But maybe a little. Thinkin about it was nice, somehow; it was a reminder that they would not always be in this dreary situation, and that all their work was for something, for the future. "I mostly know normal names..." He looked at Amekaze, silently conveying that her name wasn't normal and he wasn't sure if she wanted to honour her family in any way by using names from... wherever her name was from.

"I go by my middle: Amekaze," she explained simply, toying with a small smirk. "Mekkyaku is my first but I do not share it anymore," aside from now, of course. Not since coming to the Teekon had she spoken about it, and while it still rung true as wholly hers, it was a little strange to hear it after all this time. Next, she wondered what he'd do with that kind of information, as abstract as it may seem.

Anyway, she couldn't disagree -- middle names and letting them happen later on worked well enough for her. "I think it can work that way," she agreed, hoping that when it really came down to the wire on those types of things that she'd just know what was right and when it was perfect, even if it wasn't at the exact second she'd lay eyes on these hypothetical whelps. She didn't want to rush anything, after all.

"Mm, a good sentiment too. I will have to think on it. Julooke.. is not like anything I know right off the top of my head." But she'd keep it in mind, along with Julius. There was time, although she couldn't know just how much. "What about your father? Or anyone else worth.. considering," She knew he didn't ever have vast contact with them, so expected that list to be short. Perhaps even Julooke was just his main priority in honoring her -- which was fine by Amekaze. She liked the nod to the matriarchal line.

"Mekkyaku," Charon clumsily repeated while keeping his eyes to the outside of the territory to make sure they were not running into any intruders. Occasionally he stopped to lift his leg or roll through the dirt to spread his scent along the pack's borders. "What does it mean?" he asked, reckoning by its exotic sound the name came from the language that she knew and had been raised with.

"I didn't know my father. They said he was a nice guy, but I don't know him. I might not have known my mother either, but she died to protect Kev. I don't know about any others. I've never followed much of Ragnar and Thistle's culture, so I dunno. Maybe we should just pick names we like. You know, that sound nice." Charon had always been one for aesthetics, so why not in the names of his children, then?

Her ears twitched as he repeated her name and for a moment, she couldn't help but marvel at the curious way past met present on the very edge of his tongue. "Ah, nothing good.." she chuffed when he asked what it meant, and she intended it literally as she shook her head softly. "I suppose the best direct translation I can think of is simply.. extinguish, or, say.. almost like destruction." The word itself came with a compound meaning to her -- to extinguish the light or the dark, to mark the end of an old era and to obliterate its unsatisfactory ways. While it may have been a name literally meaning ruin, Amekaze had always understood that it was not done so with a negative connotation; Yuurei had made that clear to her. "Alongside our weather names, our mother was not one to shy from the more seemingly morbid meanings if the symbolism of it suited her purposes and preferences." she shrugged in some sort of explanation, remembering a brief conversation in which she learned fleetingly of how some of her older, half-siblings had fared as far as names went as well and it was similarly done.

Nevertheless, it seemed his father wasn't one he wanted to extend too much reference towards, and that was fine by her. Thistle and Ragnar also cropped up, and she wondered if the viking influence may find its way in somehow -- not that she would be opposed to it in any way, of course. But, as he said, he was not deeply immersed in their culture. Amekaze would always admire the certain sense of strength its influence interjected though. "I like that, too. I do hope we will just... know when something fits just right and has the right sort of flow about it," she explained as she sniffed along. "I just honestly have not put much thought behind naming anyone yet," she snickered softly as her path moved her back close to him just long enough for her to nip lightly at his shoulder. As with most things, she would just need her time and who knows, maybe in a mere handful of weeks, she could volley more concrete ideas between him.

Despite the years she had over him, she had never been the type to daydream about raising a litter, mothering them, and otherwise so this talk of names was still a new concept to grasp for her. But, it was a necessary piece of having her legacy lasting across the ages and for this reason, she wanted to strike the perfect balance of his, hers, and wholly Moonspear.

"Destruction," Charon said, adding a cool effect to the words as he spoke them, as though they were some kind of super hero — or bad guy? — name. "I like it." Charon did not care to shy away from names that meant something powerful and destructive; it was not a bad thing to be destructive. Hunting entailed destruction, too, and if you destroyed all your foes, then it meant you were the one left standing.

When Amekaze admitted she hoped that they would simply 'know', he nodded thoughtfully. "I know what you mean. But I'm sure when we see their faces, we'll simply know." Charon had full faith in the pair of them as parents and, alongside that, name-givers. They'd be fine, surely. "And maybe we'll think of something beforehand."

He took it in stride, found the.. good side of it which made it remarkably simple for her. She had to remember that it just did not have the same connotations here as it once did back in her birthplace and smirked knowingly. She did like it too, always would, and not just because it was something she had been deemed worthy of by their honored mother. "It was a good namesake to have back in the homeland," she almost sneered. "It just did not seem to fit into my world so well after I left," she shrugged. Mostly because Mekkyaku was not anything like a typical name for most folk. It had been easiest to only be Ame.

When he spoke on, what stuck with her was the idea of.. seeing their faces -- them, a concept, an idea for now but maybe not permanently. She felt her legs threaten to slow as she considered it and how vast the possibilities were. It seemed far too soon to be wondering what hypothetical offspring born from the two of them may even be like at all, but she couldn't help it; once the thought wandered that way, it all came quick. "Yeah. I do hope to have something in advance," she nodded as she walked alongside him in close for a while. "We have some time, anyway.." she reasoned. Even if she went straight into heat and he was biologically capable of getting it done, there would still be at least two turns of the moon. But, she was not feeling seasonal in that way immediately and especially not with famine bearing down on them. She wasn't going to rush that too much.

"Still.. it is so abstract to me to think of their faces. Your genes, mine, ours.. brought into the legacy of this mountain," she said lightly and toyed with a hint of a grin before nosing into the fur on his neck. Had her own parents felt this way? It was a beautiful and bizarre aspect of life that would mean so very many things.

He wondered what that meant, but he did not ask after it. Instead they moved on to the subject of the names of their children once more. Charon nodded as Amekaze said that she hoped that they would have some names before the pups were born. He echoed that sentiment with a thoughtful "hmm-m," as he considered. Charon didn't have many names present, but he liked the thought of Julius. Other than that he had no thoughts so far.

A smile meandered onto Charon's face as Amekaze said it was abstract to think of their faces. He could not really wait until they were born, but knew that he had to — yet Charon looked forward to the moment that they would see the faces of their children, when that moment would come. "They will be glorious," he said, a proud look on his face that betrayed that he could picture their children in his head already.

His confidence on the matters between them made it come all that easier for her. Together, it would work. From mere creation, to names, to parenting, between them, it would be done well. She realized with a small headrush that only he had managed to inspire such motivations in her, even when surely he was not the first in all of the wilds she had crossed to consider the notion of siring offspring unto her -- for she was well aware of her value in the act yet it had always remained carefully guarded and held away. For good reason. But for him and their mountain, she wanted it to be different.

She caught herself peering at the speckled yearling, a silent how resounding in her ears.

"Truly," she agreed softly with fondness in her voice, and then turned her eyes forward towards the patrol. The path ahead was clear for them.

The confident smile remained on Charon's face as his mate agreed with him, and he rubbed his shoulder along a tree before catching up to join by her side again. Shoulder to shoulder they continued forward, the borders safe and the future wide open for them. Charon nipped at Ame's ear and quickened his pace, inviting her to pick up the pace, and then he started to race along the borders, assuming she would follow. After their patrol Charon and Ame would return to their mountain where they could further prepare their great future.

i'll fade :)