Moonspear gorgeous beasts

open!

 

There was a sense of wrongness that she had felt some days before the first rumblings beyond the mountain that reached its foothills only some days later. Hydra kept her children close, but as she scouted the territory she knew they were safe with her husband. The Queen had told her children that something was amiss; to be watchful. Careful. Prey was becoming scarce, not just here but beyond; they had a sense for danger, too, those creatures. 

Hydra maneuvered toward the upper reaches to see what she could find there. The Queen saw many abandoned roosts from where she stood in areas she could not access, the setting sun glaring against the emptiness where normally silhouettes would sit. Her stomach sank at the sight of it, though became distracted from her distress when her peripheral caught sight of one lone winged creature, bolder (more foolish, really) than the rest, returning from its own hunt. She locked eyes with the beast, and felt some strange sort of comfort in its presence.  

She sighed, wondering if @Alya would be returning soon; she yearned for her more than ever, the woman that was her right hand, wondering what she might make of this even though she felt she already knew.

She pined for their second head too, for just as quickly as she had returned, she had left once again. Lyra knew her sister had wandering feet, an itch to explore and travel and it was an impossible feat to reign her in. Nikai had his work cut out for him. She idly wondered if the absence of one of his hind legs would be a strain on their relationship...and quietly she hoped so. But the judgemental woman kept her dour opinions of the boy close to her chest. He best hope for his sake that he would live up to at least Hydra's expectations.

Purging thoughts of her sister's mate from her mind, Lyra focused back on following the trail of Hydra. It wound up to the highest reaches of Moonspear, and Lyra wondered what she was doing up here. Something was happening in the Wilds that was causing the very ground to tremble and churn, and while there was no doubt Hydra could take care of herself, Lyra didn't trust the earth enough for it to not try and shake the Alpha from her perch. The mountain had already claimed too many lives.

Soft wing beats drew her attention upwards, and the Ostrega watched as a fearsome-looking eagle came to settle on a perch in amongst the cliffs above her, some sort of prey hanging from between its talons. How odd, she thought, realising it was the only one of its kind here when usually there were many more. A shadow in the form of a wolf caught her eye then, and Lyra silently turned and made her way up towards her sister, releasing a soft growl of affection as she came into view.

gonna backdate this to 9/16/19 when the Silverlight Terrace landslide happened for funsies!

 

Hydra sensed her mirrror image near, as she oft did; she moved to meet her, bounding neatly down—a sudden tremor caused her nearly to misstep, but her recovery was swift. Hydra was alert again, looking back over her shoulder; the birds head was pointed toward where the commotion came from, and looking toward her sister Hydra nipped her shoulder so that they might see what had just transpired. It had been close enough to Moonspear to hear, but not to do any damage here still; she moved into a long-legged sprint, nipping at her sisters shoulder to move with her. 

While they ran, Hydra huffed: what is happening to the earth? The prey know there is danger; have mother and father ever told us stories of things such as this...? Amekaze had always lain out her experiences to her daughters, and Hydra's mind ran as quickly as her legs did through her memories, looking for any standout details where prey had gone missing and the world itself could not stand to be still for very long between bouts of destruction. Winter was coming—prey would be difficult enough to find and take down! Still, while they lingered, they would hunt. Hydra sensed that in these times, they ought to do as much as they could by way of food.

Sounds good!

With a practiced intuition, Hydra turned to greet her before Lyra had even made a sound. Though before she could speak, a tremor — longer than the last few — interrupted, and both turned to look northwards where the bird now had its gazed fixed. A distant but tumultuous sound followed, as if the quakes had just brought down an entire mountain range. Hydra's nip to her shoulder was responded to in kind with a playful snap of teeth before she spun on her heel to follow after her mirror image.

Her questions were met with a shake of Lyra's head; she had no answers for her sister. Their mother had often told them the ground was prone to movement and, living on a mountain, they should be wary of quakes, but they had never been this bad. She knew Jarilo had an interest in the environment and its ecosystems; perhaps he would have an idea (unbeknownst to them, however, their brother was at the very site of the commotion).

"Not that I can remember, at least not as bad as this," she answered quietly as they jogged along the mountainside. If the herds were moving away to escape the tremors, however, they would need a plan for the coming winter.

Hydra was quiet as she considered her twins words, feeling no relief at all to hear them though she had known them before they were spoken. We will need to hunt more; fill our caches with what we can find. I do not know how much longer what is left will remain, came Hydra's advisement, thinking this the best course of action for now. It would not be wasteful; the upper reaches of Moonspear would keep food longer, the ground already touched by frost as it was.  

Her tail lashed behind her while they traveled, gaze searching the path ahead of them for any telltale signs of new danger. Nothing on the Spear, it seemed, which settled her. What do you think of all this? She asked in her next breath, though this too she thought she knew. As surely as Lyra understood and could predetermine what Hydra might even think to say or do, it was the very same for her. They need not talk to know what the other was thinking, but the twins always did enjoy talking with one another despite that when they could; vanity, perhaps, in hearing their own voices.

She nodded at Hydra's words in a silent agreement; they had plenty of capable members for hunts, even with some staying back to look after the newest litter. Currently, it seemed like there would likely be no significant shortages of food — oh how wrong she was! — but the earthquakes would surely spook the herds and cause them to at least avoid the mountainous areas and make hunting harder for them. It would be a wise decision to spend a little more time dedicating to tracking them and filling the caches.

"I don't like it," she responded, though even with the triplet's near telepathic connection, Lyra's opinion on the situation was made clear enough by the concerned frown on her face. "What about Dirge?" she asked with a half-glance to Hydra, keeping her attention still on the path ahead as they ran. Her sister's mate was a wandering soul, perhaps he had encountered something like this in his travels and would be able to shed a little more light on why this was happening.

Lyra didn't believe in Gods and deities, but surely there had to be some sort of reason why the earth had decided to wreak havoc upon the Wilds.

She did not like it either, but Lyra likely already knew as much. He seems as confused by this as the rest of us, she informed. For all of his wandering, he too had not encountered such a thing in his lifetime. It was new to the lot of them. None had experience on their side in this. She wondered if even their parents would have known, and felt a pang to think that this was something she would likely not find out—at least not from them. 

Nearing the terrace, Hydra could see from their mountain the damage done. Concern was plain on her face as she looked at the desecrated site before her, and Hydra threw her head up and howled lowly to ensure that none of their own needed assistance, or if any had been there of Moonspear that they had survived it (not knowing @Jarilo was there at the time). She quieted, listening with pricked ears for any answering cry. 

Gerra you can totes have Jarilo cameo howl if you want to! Backdated thread here <_____>

Her ears fell upon hearing Hydra's answer. So even the vagabond Dirge knew nothing of the tremors, which filled her with even more concern. Her mind briefly wondered about her parents again, if they had ever gone through a similar tumultuous period where the earth shuddered and shook that they had just never told their children about. What would Amekaze have done to ensure they lost no packmates to the quakes? What stories about the stars would Charon weave to soothe the nerves of his grandchildren? She felt an ache in her heart just as Hydra did.

As they finally came in sight of the terrace and paused, Lyra gazed in awe at the pillar of dust that rose from the area — hoping none of their own was trapped underneath the rubble — as her sister sent up a howl. Then they waited and listened in silence.

After several minutes passed with no answer, she glanced to Hydra in both concern and curiousity. "Should we head down to investigate?"

Her sisters inquiry was not without merit, but Hydra shook her head. No; it is too soon, the rocks likely still have not settled and might very well shift again. It is not safe there for now, she realized with a sigh. Looking to her sister, she realized how very happy she was that she was here with her; all the dark Ostrega needed was upon this mountain. 

So she swept toward Lyra and moved to nuzzle against her, gratitude exuded in the gesture as her tail waved. There had been no answering howl; she could only hope that none of their own were present for the disaster... and if there were, surely they would come to find out. Moving to nip her sisters shoulder, Hydra darted forward. We should see if we can track any prey nearby, Hydra suggested, ear twitching as she sniffed at the air. It had become thick with the scent of dirt and dust that rose in a browngrey plume, and she did not like the sight of it. But maybe the commotion of it all sent game scurrying toward the Spear; she could only hope some good came of what they saw before them.

Hydra wisely cautioned against going any closer to the collapsed mountainside for fear of still falling rocks. Lyra nodded, agreeing with her sister's sage advice, yet she still kept her gaze locked on the billowing plume of dust. Worry and curiosity both had her fighting the urge to hurry down to examine the damage. Of course, she was concerned for any possible family members who could have been caught up in the rockslide, but she also wondered what else could be trapped under there. She had never seen a completely flattened wolf, deer or bear before.

Her focus on the terrace finally broke when Hydra suddenly moved into her line of sight with an affectionate bump of her muzzle to her cheek. The Ostrega responded with a start before uttering a soft, warm growl in response, moving to turn with her sister as she nipped at her shoulder, tail waving in kind. An amused smile spread across her features; the tactical Hydra was always first and foremost thinking of the pack and how to make the best out of a situation. With one last glance at the now ruined territory, she set off at a lope after her mirror image.

No doubt the upheaval of an entire cliff face had sent many a prey running for shelter, and conveniently the nearest quiet forest also made up their mountain's base. "Let's," Lyra replied simply with a knowing smile. Perhaps this would be a boon for the wolves of Moonspear.

Hydra led the way down swiftly, pausing now and then to catch wind to see if any evidence to the contrary could be found. The scent of debris was strongest of all, but the Ostrega thought she could also smell what she hoped would come from it. With a look to Lyra, Hydra pressed on at a quicker clip; Lyra followed, and together the twins would take down what they could and invite any who wished to that was an able hunter to join them in that endeavor. 

fade!