Moonspear fight until i'm gone

had terance known how many times he'd actually met with poor @Alya, he'd be downright embarrassed. granted, it was her fault for never correcting him-- all three of the sisters needed to just announce their names when they started talking to someone... but whatever, terance had no idea that he'd done this so often, so the thought was far from mind. to him, alya was just around much less than his favored hydra and lyra... whoops.

he wasn't actually doing anything useful today, unfortunately-- he prayed to zues he didn't run into hydra.instead of patrolling, he opted to go on a relaxing, evening stroll. he felt like that was something that wraen would do, and thought maybe he'd find her somewhere among the snowy cliffs-- maybe that would lift his spirits today, drag him out of today's funk.

Alya was "patrolling" - in quotations because the listless way in which she wandered and the depth of her introspection did not really fit the definition of that word. Meandering was a better word. Wandering. Thinking. So much seemed to be happening lately, and yet, nothing at all. The pack - her life - was at a standstill, and it was causing the free-spirited girl to lose her fire.

Her eyes lifted briefly at the sound of another's approach, but she did not acknowledge the other until they'd neared each other enough that she would not have to raise her voice to say, "Hey, Terance." Her eyes swept over him admiringly, but she had no energy to flirt today - especially not with something Lyra had claimed as her own. "What are you up to?"

he heard his name from behind him, his ears flicking up as he turned to see who. it sounded like a cerberus, but he wasn't sure which one. he made a guess that it wasn't hydra-- he kind of assumed she'd be able to tell that he was lolly-gagging and would be already on his ass about it-- but he couldn't decide between alya or lyra. lyra was usually further inland to the territory (in his opinion, anyway), but to him, alya wasn't one to come talk to him. he was split.

"hey..." he said slowly, leaving space for her to fill in her name if she so chose to, "nothing really, taking a break, actually." a day long break-- whoops. but she didn't need to know that, he wouldn't share that much. he shifted a little bit, tail waving. "you wanna join me?" he asked. it wasn't wraen, but he wasn't offended by the thought of a dark sister accompanying him.

His answer didn't surprise him - he hadn't looked too busy to her. She was surprised, however, when she was asked along on his lollygagging. Her ears flicked forward, and then slid back as she realized what had happened. He thought she was Lyra. Again.

"Sure," she replied, making sure to keep her tone somewhat glib to clue him in. She offered him a smile and a toss of her head that was distinctly un-Lyra, and then gave him a chance to back out, in case he didn't want to hang out with her now that he knew she wasn't the love of his life. "If you don't mind the company. I can move along, if you'd prefer."

She liked Terance. He was useful, he was friends with Hydra, and he'd realized what a catch Lyra was. That made him a friend of Alya's by definition, but she got the feeling that he didn't exactly care for her company. He never really seemed to see her - only Lyra or Hydra, depending on the situation - and if he had any appreciation for her, he'd surely recognize her at some point - one of those 'see what you want to see' type deals.

But he never wanted to see her. And that was fine - Alya didn't need him to like her. But she wasn't about to spend her evening with someone who wouldn't appreciate her company.

luckily, terance wasn't as dumb as a stack of bricks. the subtle cues were actually the perfect indicators, and actually kind of a relief. "alya," he said, not as a question, but as a statement. he didn't know alya's thoughts on him and lyra-- in fact, he had never realized it'd been so obvious. he'd probably never know, either, since he was under the draining impression that lyra thought of him as nothing more than a friend-- which could've very much been true. 

despite the fact that his few conscious interactions with alya had gone so negatively (in his eyes), she probably had much more reason to not want to hang around him-- considering his constant mistaking her for one of her siblings. that was probably pretty shitty, and that thought had never once crossed terance's mind. but even so, he surely didn't mind her company, so he shook his head.

"no, no, i'd like it," he said, ears cupping forward. he really would like some company.

Alya brightened at this assurance. She was a little surprised, because she didn't have very many friends in Moonspear. She had her mother and father and her younger siblings, whom she surely loved, and the Cerberus of course. But she kept to herself for the most part, living in her own little world and thinking about a future she continually postponed.

"Good," she replied, circling around him and coming to stand at his shoulder, like a dignified governess taking the arm of a gentleman. "Because I'm trying this new thing where I make friends with people, and I don't think I've gotten to you, yet," said Alya, deciding to be up-front about her intentions. Friendship was all about honesty, and she had to give the impression that she would be conforming to that.

alya joined him at his side and he motioned to start the walk, tail waving a little as they went. alya immediately jumped into some sort of friendship talk, and terance's ears pricked as she explained it. did that mean she wanted him to talk all about himself? he wasn't sure he had the motivation for that. he was out and moving today, actually sort of wanted some social interaction, but a deep conversation? that was sort of... draining.

regardless, he gave her a little smile. "making friends," he repeated thoughtfully, nose twitching. "it's a fun pastime, how's it been going?" he then inquired, taking a moment to focus his gaze on her.

Alya gave a little chuckle. "It's... going," she decided, making a 'cute thinking face' that she'd practiced for many hours in front of Lyra and Hydra. "I think Wraen and I are friends, now. And maybe I'm friends with a girl from the valley. Oh - and a boy from the Caldera as well. But since I'm not too sure about any of them, it's hard to really get all the data together," she explained, practicing at being humorously self-deprecating again. Wolves at that shit right up for some reason. Odd, because she saw self-deprecation as a crippling weakness in others.

"What about you? I know you're friends with my sisters, but do you have many others?"

She'd not kept track of Terance's movements within the pack, considering him truthworthy enough to be allowed to roam unsupervised. Drogon, on the other hand, had not yet earned that right in the dark princess's eyes.

terance noticed the 'cute thinking face', but made no visible expression to show that he had. the mention of wraen and alya being friends, however-- and alya not quite being sure if they were friends-- brought a wide smile to his face. "you and wraen are friends," he assured her with a soft shoulder, "if i know her at all, i'd say she already adores you-- i'm sure." wraen would befriend a stone, he was sure of it.

he gave a slight chuckle at her other comment, mostly because he sort of related to the whole self-deprecation vibe lately. no girls wanted him (or guys, whoops), he had plummeted in the ranks, and even his own damn brain couldn't cut him a break. he did not voice any of that, however, instead leaving it at her own joke.

"rannoch," he said without much thought, then paused to actually think about it. he came up blank, that was about it. "and of course wraen," he then added, to make himself sound less like a big loser-- he figured, if anyone, a cerberus would give him social props for being friends with his own sister.

"Well - that's good to know," said Alya, mentally ticking off the box beside Wraen's name. "We played 'rescue the princess' with Jarilo a while back, but we haven't hung out much since then." But she liked Wraen, and she liked her even more now that she knew that they were friends, and that Wraen even had the proper adoration for her.

Alya actually felt a little bad for Terance. He sure was a loser - at least Alya had chosen not to befriend people before this. Terance was just plain old pathetic, if his only friends were his sister (who was alright, admittedly) and Rannoch. Not saying any of this, she let out a soft coo of comfort, perhaps hinting at nonexistant empathy and understanding. "My dad likes you," she offered half-heartedly, privately thinking that Terance should stop drinking the from fount of endless boredom sometime soon.

"We should do something fun," she said, making an executive decision for the both of them. "No more moping on the borders. Do you have any ideas?" 

Obviously, though, they were going to do what she wanted to do.

"that sounds like her," he said with a smile, games were always wraen's forte-- she'd taken that from osprey. 

terance didn't actually think that alya would think he was lame-- but she brought up charon, her fuckin dad. he gave her a look of desperation, ears lowering. "aw, come on," he said with a half smile, since he wasn't truly hurt, "i'm not that lame." he was also friends with hydra and lyra, and kind of korei-- and for a while he'd done really well at making friends with strangers outside the borders. he always liked that kavos guy... just, not lately. he hadn't had the energy for that... or for a game, and alya suddenly seemed so intent on doing something fun. damn, what happened to a nice walk? 

oof, maybe he was a total loser.

"i don't," he said with a quick side-eye, then added, "i'm guessing you do, though."

Alya bristled a tiny bit at that. "Daddy's not lame," she said sharply, giving him an incredulous look. He'd be lucky to get to half the level of awesome that Charon was at the rate he was going. But, although Terance had just lost a few points in Alya's eyes, she was still determined to befriend him.

Thus, when he seemed unenthusiastic about her suggestion of fun (and really, what kind of loser got all mopey at the thought of fun?), the look she shot him was a very quick on, full of carefully-contained aggression. WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM? she wanted to shout, but thankfully, she managed to keep her mouth shut and quickly morphed her pretty features into idle interest. "We can watch the squirrels and other animals and try to make up funny things that they might be saying," she suggested, affecting a Lyra-like earnestness to cover up her displeasure with the idea. It was something she often did by herself, when neither Lyra nor Hydra was around to keep her company. Not something she did when there was any other option but boredom.

It would probably suit Terance perfectly.

terance didn't think charon wasn't cool, but he was like, best friends with his mom. the thought of him like actually being bff's with his moms friend was... weird. and the fact that alya chose such an old guy was offending, to terance at least. right? it was her dad, but still. he didn't think he was in the wrong for thinking that. but apparently alya was pretty heated by his comment, she even bristled a bit. unsure of how to fix that mess he had apparently just made-- terance said nothing.

her suggestion sounded low energy-- but kind of peppy. terance really didn't have any pep in him these days, but he could play along. if he'd known all those things that alya was thinking to herself, he probably would've left by now-- who was that mean to a friend? but he couldn't so he was blissfully unaware, only feeling mildly awkward from their charon conversation. "if you wanna," he agreed, right away trying to channel his inner osprey. this was certainly a more wraen kind of game, but he was down. then, ears pricked he nosed off to the right. "we can head down that way, there'll probably be some near the trees," he suggested.

Alya paused, her steps faltering as she gathered her patience and her wits about her. She kept messing up with Terance - it seemed as though nothing she said or did could make them friends. The only thing left to do was attempt her specialty, and Lyra would just have to forgive her later.

She wouldn't take it too far.

She glanced toward the trees and back to Terance, her eyes seeming to brighten and her gaze shifting to something between excitement and speculation. "Maybe we can go to those trees and just have a little... privacy," she suggested, affecting a Lyra-esque hesitence and sense of propriety. She glanced behind her, a bit of real guilt flickering across her face. Would Lyra be mad at her? Probably - but it was for science! And they really needed to get Lyra someone less... boring.

alya paused, terance could tell she was thinking but he wasn't sure what about. for a moment, he was almost convinced that she was deciding if she wanted to ditch him-- something just gave him that vibe. that was, at least, until she turned back to look at him with a small sweep of her blue gaze. despite the fact that he'd mixed up the three numerous times, terance had done his best to put the triplets in three separate categories. he'd done a fantastic job during this interaction, until, of course, alya opened that mouth of hers again.

privacy. terance was familiar with that phrasing, and the way she said it. his own stomach twisted, though he tried hard to immediately detangle it-- this was alya. and besides, he wasn't about to make any assumptions, for all he knew she could've meant it very literally. 

either way, he couldn't help a rather coy smile and a dip of his nose. if that's what she wanted, he wouldn't turn down a potential option that didn't involve pretending to be woodland creatures. "lead the way?" he replied, ears pricked.

For a moment, Alya was a bit taken aback by her actions. Flirting with Terance was definitely something she wasn't supposed to be doing, right? But when he made that face on her, her mind went blank, her heart skipped a beat, and feverish warmth swept through her body in a wave so powerful she visibly stumbled, though she almost disguised the motion by turning to do as he's said.

It was a short walk to the treeline, during which Alya struggled to regain control of her impluses. Her mind was still somewhat muddled when she turned to Terance and was, again, struck by his virile form and roguish looks. "So..." she said with a nervous laugh. "Here we are in the bushes... all alone..."

Shouldn't she leave or something? Instead, she just sort of held her breath and stared at Terance, heart pumping double-time and legs feeling weak.

as they walked, terance found himself silent, thoughtful. alya probably didn't mean what she said. he hoped he'd just misinterpreted her statement-- he'd done it before. how many times had he been with lyra, feeling a real, genuine connection with her, when in reality there was nothing? too many. maybe this was that. 

but when they were covered by the pines and the underbrush, terance felt(unfortunately) more confident in his ability to read this situation-- especially when she spoke. he didn't respond right away, he was suddenly too busy trying to remind himself who he was with. it was just... too easy to pretend that this wasn't alya, but it was alya, and alya wasn't just some thing... god but it was so easy...

he situated himself, trying to decide if getting a little action was worth all the heart ache tonight-- because he knew it'd come. but, then again, maybe this was a step in the right direction. he needed to get over himself, stop pining over the one girl he wanted-- that didn't want him--maybe this would help. quiet still, he turned to look at her, green gaze moves slowly along the features on her dark face. alya, he reminded himself, over and over. eventually, it didn't seem to foreign... and he wouldn't be hurting anyone... as far as he knew he was far from anyone's minds. except alya-- alya, alya, alya. 

finding words too hard now, terance opted to remain silent. and then, slowly, still deciding as he was moving if this was a good idea or not, he pressed his nose beneath her jaw where it met her neck, sweeping along it to give a soft nip at her ear before retreating. he looked for her gaze again, thousands of questions surfacing-- he hoped she'd answer at least one.

Wow, thought Alya, wondering when Terance had turned into such a hottie. She'd always found him objectively attractive, of course, but never before had he captured her attention quite like this. It was as though someone had flipped a switch somewhere, and all of the sudden, Lyra's tidy little friend was all coy looks and bad intentions - and Alya could only stare, her expression almost entirely slack, save for her wide, blue eyes.

She watched as if from another body as Terance carefully nipped her ear. Heat shot through the yearling's body, shocking her to her very core. It was a very different sensation than the ones she'd experienced with Ben just a few months before.

Abruptly, Alya sneezed. The action jolted her back into awareness, and she gaze at Terance with mounting horror. "I have to - oh my. Indegestion. Bye!" the girl gasped, turning and dashing away. She was gone in mere seconds, leaving nothing but pawprints in her wake.

whatever expression was on alya's face-- terance couldn't place. of course, instead of giving him some sort of real indicator of how she felt, alya merely exclaimed something about-- did she say indigestion?--and took off, leaving terance absolutely mortified. how embarrassing, had he really misinterpreted all that? there was no way, he was totally in the right here. he didn't even have the time to say anything in response, if she'd heard anything from him it was a few sputters of nonsense-- of confusion. 

that was that, he supposed. he couldn't even play-pretend with lyra's identical-- though apparently much easier-- sister. terance snorted and with a loud sigh, plopped dramatically down onto his stomach, head on his paws, ears splayed. he'd rebound elsewhere, some day. maybe. he hoped alya wouldn't tell lyra, though.