There were times when he wondered why he still woke up in the middle of a sound sleep, body shaken, and eyes wide with pinpricks for pupils. Calming only when his senses finally came to him and the land around him stopped contorting and morphing from its previous dreamscape. Trees and den hollows became more familiar, and the hushed sounds of others slumbering caught his tattered ears. What did they call this place? The Mother's Hills? Bah. Nothing was quite as rotten as dreams plagued with constant nightmares, but he put up that silent battle.

Periwinkle skies came to greet him, and a glitter of fading stars shown like tiny twinkling lights in the far distant skies above. First few bits of birdsong would no doubt fill the early morning air. The large wolfdog would give a frown, pulling himself up and shaking out hos coat, feeling the tug of the collar around his neck and grumbling softly to himself as he stepped quietly.

Maybe it was force of habit that he found himself stopping by Mercury's den, head hanging low and peering in at the darkness for an ever darker form. Back where he'd come from, he was always closest to her, a lot of his 'alone' time (if he could eve call it that) was spent talking with her about whatever came to mind, and if there was nothing to talk about he never mined sitting quietly in each other's company. It was a rare quality around here, a few of the members he'd already met were quite the chatters.

"Hey Merc..." His voice was low and gravelly from sleep, but a whisper was a whisper, I guess. "Hey pssst, Mercury... You in there?" Tilting his head to the side to listen for sounds of snoring, everyone usually greeted the dark moon with honorifics. Kodi did too, sometimes. " Queen Thunder thighs, I'm going for a walk." Taking a step closer to peer his head into the den. It didn't necessarily seem like an invitation to some, but to the dark female she knew that it was and she could take it or leave it, no fur off his back.

"Hey Merc... Hey pssst, Mercury... You in there?"

She was going to have to post visiting hours at this rate.  Luckily for the wolfdogi, they had shared a sleep schedule for a long time, and 'the wolf' was an early riser.  And she did not snore! Her eyes opened instantly, and without the grogginess that came with a deeply interrupted sleep, her brain fog burned away in an instant.  Standing quickly and giving herself a shake, she came to the opening just as Kodiak spoke again.

"Queen Thunder thighs, I'm going for a walk."

"Restless paws so early, Muttface?"

She teased, giving him a grin while she made an elaborate stretch, her spine cracking into place with a satisfying pop.  The walk down from the Castle was short, a now visible crossroads of trails were being worn into the trampled grass.  The first signs of the pack claiming their space.  Right now, most of her members were still in bed, and with a light fog that softened the edges of the world, it appeared as much a dreamscape as any.  The low angled sun sparkled off the dew that clung to the grass, the first few calls of loons echoed through the mist.  Then came the sharp staccato of the dawn birdsong.  Whatever twisted dreamscape Kodiak had visited, this was something very different.

"Race you for a drink." Mercury challenged, and then took off like a shot towards the Beach.  No 'ready, set, go!' for him.  He'd just have to catch her.

He feigned laughter at her quip back at him, making a face and sticking out his tongue as she smirked. "Takes a mutt to know a mutt." He said back with a snort and a smirk of his own. There was still the grogginess of slumber that clung to him, but periwinkle skies and fading stars called to them. Dawn was on the horizon. He turned to look at the mountains then, the very glimmers of golden light, as the sun sat below the very rim of mountain range. It'd be another nice day, they were all thankful for such fair weather.

However, a tattered ear would flick toward the sound of her voice and face would screw into a scowling, confused expression. "Whaaat?" He said looking back at her was a yawn following closely after, but she was like a dark bolt. A fat dark bolt, and his ears pulled back. "I'm an endurance runner, not a speed runner, Merc." He complained with another scowl, but the dog in him was always fond of competition. Large paws thundering forward, nostrils flaring, the feeling of loose dirt and fresh dew from the grass clinging to his legs and coat.

The small chill in the air made each breath feel easy and crisp, and with a bit of effort he was able to catch up to her. Guess he still did have it in him after all, all this time away from the team and he'd thought he'd forgotten what actual running felt like. Huh.

A bright warm glow spilled into the valley as the sun finally climbed the peaks, its grand light washing over the once shadowed place as it began warming the surrounding land. The brightness caught his eye, reflecting and shimmering, but it pulled him away. The sound of their paws became static fuzz, the thrumming of his own heart so loud in his ears. The bright world around him slow and dimming and as he blinked, Mercury's dark form was gone and instead he was met with flames and smoldering torches.

Instinctively, he recoiled and jerked to a hesitating halt that pulled him from his daymare, nearly jumping out of his skin as his paws felt the damp clay-dirt of the shore. When he glanced about again, would have already beaten him to it, and he'd snort. "Yeah yeah, you won, but only because the sun was in my eyes." Not technically a lie.

"Takes a mutt to know a mutt."

"Psh!" She scoffed back at him.  

It was an old argument, and the best he could ever come up with was some variation of "I know you are but what am I".  Still, the usual exchange brought a tang of familiarity to the scene.  At first, Mercury was concerned that Kodiak's appearance would disrupt what she was building in Nardir.  Instead, Nardir had been disrupted by far greater things, and the wolfdog had been absorbed into the pack with very little resistance.  So far, the biggest conflict was Ayliyra and Kodiak getting off on the right paw.  Hardly surprising, since Ayliyra didn't seem to get off on the right paw with anyone, and Kodiak wasn't exactly a social butterfly.  Still, it was hardly a problem worth dwelling on, and Mercury knew better than to try and force relationships between people.  She and Akutan were butting heads themselves, but that was something she absolutely did not want to think about this morning.  Best leave that for when she actually needed to deal with the newly minted patriarch of the X clan.

"Whaaat? I'm an endurance runner, not a speed runner, Merc."

"Terribly sorry!" She called back over her shoulder "I fear I cannot hear you over the sound of me winning!"

He took the bait, and the two of them went dashing across the grass and down the hill.  She just turned the bend, the light shining off the lake as the sun rose.  But she grew up here, and did not find the misted dawn blinding.  Kodi pulled up suddenly, right before they hit the sand.  She reacted a moment later, skidding on the grass and pebbles as she brought herself to a stop.  One forepaw landed in the shallows, declaring her the victor, but she was no longer focused on the race.

"Kodi?" She asked, concern in her voice.

"Yeah yeah, you won, but only because the sun was in my eyes."

The Dark Moon looked back the way they came, at the pale sun that had just crested the hills. Then out at the lake, which, while sparkling with reflective light. Then back to him. There was a pause as she stood there, weighing his words. It wasn't a matter of her knowing whether or not they were false. They both knew he was full of shit. The real question was, was she going to ask about it? She considered calling him out, but Kodi had never been fond of sharing, and something had driven him along the road until his paws had bled raw. He didn't tell her, wouldn't tell her. So, with all the decorum of the queen she was, she turned and took a drink, ignoring the lie between them, and giving him his privacy.

The silence between them lingered as she considered what next to say. There were moments, like when they were running, that they had an easy time with each other. But moving beyond the basic courtesies and getting to the meat of it was harder. What could she offer for him to feel comfortable? She stared out at the water, and saw something slip from a log and break the surface. Eager to steer them back into familiar comfort, she asked, at random:

"Have you ever caught a lake turtle?"

As simple as the weather, and just as meaningless.

He glanced at her for a moment as he was catching his breath, she knew, he was sure of it. They were both sure of it, and his insides twisted at the thought of a conversation he rather not talk about. Especially when it was something like this, but thankfully, THANKFULLY!! The dark female had decided it was better to just ignore things like this, because honest how do we talk about feelings and emotions and trauma here? Kodi gave a soft sigh of relief, thankful in that moment that the pair of them were emotionally inept.

But she still seemed to be mulling the idea over, don't poke that bear, please don't.

Eyes glancing off to the waters that sparkled and glittered like a lake of stars, a mist coating the surface towards the middle and other side, little ripples in the water alerted him to the fish that swam just below the surface, and the soft quacking of ducks followed after. The wolfdog would allow himself to slouch for a moment, the sun's ray warming him as he blinked and winced at the light's intensity, vision immediately snapping to the ground in a squinting motion.

"I beg your what now?" Head snapped upward with squinted eyes, honestly he wasn't listening, but half of him didn't want to just outright say that to her. Ears pulled back and brow rose when he finally did catch on, a grin pulled at his lips, showing of fang here and there. "Turtles catching? Seriously? That's kid stuff, Queen Moon Moon." He teased though he was already standing up to shake out his thick fur. "Is turtle catching really in your galactic god job description?" She'd know he was joking by his tone, but had it been anyone else popping into their conversation it'd be sacrilegious, blasphemous, and downright disrespectful.

All those elders would have had their diapers in a twist just hearing such talk. Kodi merely gave a roll of his shoulders, grin brightening as he moved to bump her shoulder, not super gently, but distinctively playful. "I'm actually a pretty decent turtle catcher from here to the Fringe Pass, but I'll let you show me the ropes, besides you'd probably have a better chance at finding them. After all those are some fat chicken thighs you got." He snorted a chuckle motioning to the water as he stepped toward the ebbing lake waters.

"I beg your what now?" Why did he always want her to think he wasn't listening? "Turtles catching? Seriously? That's kid stuff, Queen Moon Moon. Is turtle catching really in your galactic god job description?"

Mercury was coming into herself.  She now had an aura, a presence that attested to the steel in her spine.  Among the wolves here, she was respected because she was Queen, but also because of the scars she bore in service of Nardir.  But he tried to bait her, tried to break that facade.  It kept her grounded, and she never chided him for it, but sometimes, she just didn't understand. Was it because, unlike the others who only saw a crown, he saw the shackles that she wore?  As heavy as iron and more strangling around her neck than their collars.

The Queen dramatically rolled her eyes at him, but inwardly Mercury wondered if he was really covering up something.  She learned to catch turtles, as he correctly indicated, as a child.  But had he?  What if he was drowning in the vastness of the wild?

"If you do not know how, just say so. After all, it is not a very domestic task."  She countered both his boast and his shove.

Something about Kodiak made it so that he wasn't making connections here, despite the fact that she was practically voluntelling him to interact with the pack.   He was pushing her away too.  All she could see was the surface, and like a moonlit lake under a full moon, the glossy shimmer he was showing her held something much deeper below it.  The problem was that neither of them knew how to make the dive.  There was something between them, but small talk and banter wasn't going to reveal it.

"I'm actually a pretty decent turtle catcher from here to the Fringe Pass, but I'll let you show me the ropes, besides you'd probably have a better chance at finding them. After all those are some fat chicken thighs you got."

Again, he blustered, insulted and passed the baton back to her.  But she was ready, and gave him a sly smirk.


"If you are so confident in your skills, by all means, show me how it is done. I am sure the pups would be delighted to try lake turtle.  Not exactly a staple in the mountains, you know."