Moonspear aerodynamic

@Charon

 

Hydra idled, for once, thinking of another game for she and her sisters to play. As she thought, she chewed on a low-hanging branch on a tree she lay beside. This in itself was a mind-numbing task, until she released it and was smacked right back into reality. She flinched backward and pushed herself away with her forelegs, managing to position herself into a seated position as she blinked down at the offender. 

An idea came to her, then. Hydra gripped another branch and pulled backward, letting it rebound in the opposite direction before it headed back toward her face. Instead of withdrawing, Hydra opened wide to catch it in her jowls. This proved to be painful, as it moved too quickly and caused her mouth to ache. Huffing, Hydra—not one to give up so easily—gripped the branch again, pulled, and released. As it returned toward her again, this time Hydra sprung backward and observed the swaying branch, only moving to catch it again when it did not rush in her direction as it had before. 

This time she moved too slow, it evaded her grip, and thwapped her gently on the nose. Hydra bore her teeth at the offender, swiping at it with a forelimb and darting away before it could retaliate.

Charon, ever the good father, had been watching and laughing at his child from afar. He didn't want to get too close, mostly because he didn't want his child to see him laughing in her face and he didn't want her to stop either, because even if it was funny as hell to see her get booped in the face by a twig, it was also useful training and he was glad that she was doing it. The laughs were just an added bonus.

After watching her play and train for a while, he decided to move in towards Hydra. He chuffed to announce his presence and, assuming that she ceased her game, nosed her cheek lovingly before suggesting: "Do you want to come on a patrol of the borders?" They were growing older by the day and even if they were still too young to leave the territory on their own, Charon liked taking them places. He'd rather they go places like the borders or outside world safely with him or Ame or anyone by their side than on their own and so he always told them they should just ask if they wanted anything. He felt that Hydra was ready for this, and hopefully he was right.

Hydra turned alert when she thought she heard a sound, head turning in the direction her father came from. Upon seeing Charon, Hydra's tail waved and she bridged the short-distance between them, licking her chops before fondly nipping at his chin in greeting after he nosed her cheek. His invitation was met with a wildly waving tail, and a stoic head nod. There was no way in heck she'd turn down this opportunity; Hydra was certain she'd learn loads of cool things today, and she could hardly wait. Her tail had yet to stop waving, betraying how wildly excited Hydra was to join him at the borders.

She was so mature, he realised as she showed enthusiasm that she then tried to contain. Her butt betrayed what she hid on her face, and he could not help but grin, feeling proud of her. She was so strong, stubborn and ambitious, and he loved her for it. Yet she also had some of that stoicism that Ame had, the lack of vocal response but with an expression or body language that spoke volumes. He was tempted to joke that she wasn't interested judging by her lack of vocality but then decided against it, because he didn't want to discourage that part of her.

Charon nipped at Hydra's side in gesture for her to come, then started making his way to the borders. "Considering how often you've broken away, you probably know the borders very well already," he said with a grin. "What can you tell me about them that you've already learned?"

Hydra tilted her head at her fathers words, wondering how he might know—she had drifted even further than the borders, but before she could get too far she returned... though not after meeting a boy named Rian. Hydra thought of him frequently, but sporadically, and her eyes averted as he came into her head now so that her father might not read her mind. If she were to be near her sisters they would know instantaneously what was on her mind, that she was hiding something. But her face morphed into one of attention and her ears perked, feigning that she had heard something. And then she looked back to him as he posed a question to her. 

His nip had spurred her to movement, and she nipped his shoulder back fondly. That they need to be marked regularly, and that all wolves help with that, she offered, unsure if she was on the right track.

They came into motion and fell into step easily enough. Whenever he was around his daughters the flow of everything just seemed so natural; well, with the triplets, at least. He didn't notice anything off about Hydra, not that attentive to details, and started his way to the borders with a brisk trot, heading down through the forest towards its frays, leaving the mountain behind for now.

"That's right," he said with praising voice. "And the more dominant a wolf is in the hierarchy, the more their scent is — and should be — at the borders. So Amekaze and I need to patrol the most." He looked to see if she understood. "And then other wolves who don't belong to the pack will know they shouldn't cross the borders. If anyone does cross our borders, we can kill them for it." He looked at her again to see if she understood. He didn't tell her this just because she needed to help defend the borders soon, but also so she would know never to cross another pack's borders.

Her tail waved at his praise, and as he continued to speak she listened. Naturally, her father and her mother would be the strongest scent upon the borders. Hydra's ears twitched atop her crown, wanting to be mindful of that in the future. Though she was ambitious, her ambition was not so far-reaching that she desired to take the place of her mother or father. No—her hope was to one day lead alongside them, ideally with her mirror images (though she did not know leadership was limited to a number). His words ended on a note that caused her ears to flatten atop her head. Hydra had never visited another pack before... and though she had never humored crossing borders before, it was now definitively on her list of things to never do. She would have to tell her sisters so they, too, would be mindful of it. 

Has that ever happened? She inquired. Hydra knew that they had to kill their prey—something Hydra herself had not yet accomplished, but had observed her parents and the pack do together during their large hunts. She did not question the kill order, only because her father knew best and had never in his life (to her knowledge) led her astray. Hydra also knew him to say exactly what he meant, and by now knew the difference between 'attack' and 'kill'. She elaborated, Have you ever killed a wolf who crossed the borders? There was no judgment in her tone, only an innocent curiosity.

Charon hoped that what he said would stick with her if she ever considered crossing another pack's borders. He had done so himself when he was young, thinking nothing of it — he'd also let Fitz from Silvertip into his pack at the time, when he was just Hydra's age — and therefore he wanted to make sure his daughters didn't do it. If Hydra knew then Alya and Lyra would know too, he knew for sure.

She asked if he had experience with killing other wolves, and Charon had to dig into his memories to think if he had ever experienced such a thing. He only remembered almost needing to a few times and so he said, "Not many times at the borders. Usually they were smart enough to make a run for it before they succumbed to their wounds." Which wasn't untrue, since he had chased off a variety of intruders in his time. He then disclosed, leaning in close as though it was a secret; "But I've killed bad wolves that were inside of the pack, once or twice. They pretended to be good members of the pack, but then turned out to do bad things." He figured she'd think him pretty ~cool~ for that.

Hydra listened to her father, and her eyes widened. She certainly did think his information was cool. Her father knew so much, and she wanted to absorb it all. What kind of bad things? Hydra whispered, keeping to his theme. She believed him wholeheartedly, and wanted some insight on the matter. Hydra certainly wanted to be aware so that she could, if necessary, do as her idol did. He being the alpha knew all, and so she had no doubt that he had done the right thing. But she wondered what defined "bad things". She certainly did not want to do them, though she was of the mind that she could do no wrong. Her tail waved. While she had always known him to be a good dad, Hydra was also now realizing he was a good leader too—something that had not really occurred to her, seeing him only in the fatherly light. But he kept not just she and her sisters and mother safe, but the whole pack. Hydra felt proud, and was only further inspired to make him proud(er) of her.

The look on his daughter's face showed him that Hydra was thinking of him as a pretty cool dad indeed. He liked to think he wasn't one of those fathers that would embarrass their daughters because he was doing lame, nerdy stuff or crashing their parties all the time — he would always be cool, and his children should all look up to him for that. It gave him pleasure to think he had succeeded in making his daughter think he was pretty damn cool.

He halted a moment when Hydra asked what sort of bad things they'd done. He used this time to rub his fur over a few trees at the treeline, leaving strands of white hair everywhere, so that it wouldn't seem so apparent he was thinking of how to word things. "One of them attacked your mother," he said; "He thought that he should rule the pack, and your mother was too hurt to stop him from taking the pack, so I fought him and killed him." Of course, there was also Nishu... His line of bad things was a whole different area. "Often when wolves are chased out or killed in the pack, it's because they aren't respectful and act like they're higher in the hierarchy than they really are. But only a few have to be killed, if they go too far — most of the times, it suffices to chase them out."

And he thought of Althaia and Harley, and wondered where they were now, and how, and if Althaia had had her pups... They had to be a little younger than Hydra, if they had survived. They probably would've been killed had Amekaze been able to catch them (or he, he'd like to think — but deep down he knew he wouldn't have), but instead they were still out there somewhere.

She listened, rapt and interested. She bristled as he spoke of her mother being attacked, her ears flicking forward as her anger flared. Twas rare to see Hydra break her stoicism, but if her family was threatened she would turn from mountain stone to the devastation mountains wrought in the form of her bodily avalanche. She was satisfied by the ending of this story, and as he explained things to her Hydra felt she understood. Okay, she responded, nodding. She was committed to protecting Moonspear from threats within and without. Disrespectful behavior would be rewarded harshly by Hydra, in the methods he spoke of. If they didn't flee, then they would surely die.

Hydra then mimicked his behavior, moving to rub herself upon the tree he had. Her own black furs framed the whiteness of his own, and she looked to Charon, tilting her head: good?

Her quietude was enough of a sign for Charon that she understood explicitely what he had intended to bring across. The last thing he wanted was to see his daughter murdered by neighbouring packs — to know that she understood that respecting borders was about more than mere politeness was good, even if he had exaggerated slightly. Hopefully if it ever came to wolves within the pack she would summon her father for it first.

She mimicked his movements, not only littering the tree with black hairs to complement his own but likely picking up some white hairs along the way. He nodded in silent approval and then moved to continue the patrol, in silence if she had no further questions.

feel free to fade unless Hydra has more Q's :D

For now she did not have more questions; she was content to learn by observing him, mimicking his behaviors slowly. Hydra wanted to be sure she did everything the proper way, and when her father approved she continued on. So for the day the pair hung out with one another, and there was no awkwardness about the quiet they kept. If ever a question did arise, she would ask it and he would answer. For the most part, though, all that they did had already been explained or was self-explanatory.