I am the senate,

open! at Dragonsteeth AKA borders

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The rain fell down in heavy droves, and Hydra seemed to part the waters that came as she moved with careful footing. Despite the rainfall, Hydra patrolled and marked the territory. The scent would be further refreshed from the present weather, and was no obstacle that prevented her from her duty. Overtime, the rain slowed to something that could be seen through... and Hydra peered over the border, licking her chops. Osiris was still gone, and Hydra had sent Dirge and Altair to find him. Altair, she figured, could learn from his father the way of scouting... he had seemed to enjoy jaunts away to search, and Hydra would prefer he learn from the best of them the proper (as she saw it) and safe ways to do so. Her inquisitive boy would wise up, no doubt, alongside her husband. 

Hydra simply wanted word of his wellbeing, truth be told. She missed her son, and as a mother would she worried for him even despite knowing in her heart he was alright. Dirge obliged her, as he often did, and Hydra sighed to herself at the timing of it all. But, well, to know that her son was safe? That was a priceless thing, really, and would lift from her shoulders a heavy weight. She and Jarilo could manage, the matriarch was certain.

And her own heat was never an early thing. Dirge knew that, too; the stressors of... this uncommon event... would no doubt play into that, too, she imagined. All the same, as she looked beyond she hoped to see him returning and their sons (both was wishful thinking, but even still she did) with him, if he did not join his brother on his search. No such vision came, and so the matriarch returned to her work.

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Wolves were leaving - though as their numbers were quite high, it didn't impact them quite so. Especially as peace was existent within these lands, and barely any enemies were around, except the occasional squabble due to fresh territory claim. She assumed some left to find the rest, those who still were wanderers during the night, as many names were in the air that she knew she did not smell, or sea. As the following ; Antares, Atlas, Vega, Mintaka, Caelum, and even Mira, who had a history of disappearances.. Majority of the Queen's offspring were afloat in the world. Unfortunate, but Desdemona believed they'd find their way eventually.

As the guard following through the borders, her nose moreso scenting then usual - she caught the familiar one of the Queen. Her paced quickened slightly, and barked lightly to announce her presence.

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Hydra heard Desdemona, turning her head to look in her direction as she approached. The matriarch's tail waved as she beheld her, spinning lightly on her heels to meet the woman with a warm chuff. The thoughts on her mind could be tempered with action, and that was precisely what she had in mind. It took no time at all for Hydra to meet her, given their already close proximity, and Hydra moved to nip at her shoulder to greet her when the woman was within reach. Her tail swayed in loose arcs as she moved to circle 'round Desdemona, as though to go to the other side of her to become parallel; the matriarch instead swatted halfheartedly at the nearest hindleg to her (closer to her metatarsal than her ankle, hoping to unbalance the woman some), swinging her hips away then so that she herself was then out of reach. 

There was a hint of mischief in her gaze as the matriarch rumbled lowly, ears flattening atop her crown while she crooned a low invitation to spar. Gaze bright, Hydra's muzzle lowered neatly over her throat as she squared her own weight, her eyes narrowing simultaneously. Desdemona was a physical woman, like herself, and Hydra had in mind to strengthen Empyrean and build something great once more. Her visions would come to life once again, she knew; it was only a matter of time.

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Submissively so, the matriarch pecked at her neck, and likewise Desdemona moved to lick her nose, a sign of a wolf submitting to the domination. Friendly was they were, the two were more primal in the ways, falling deeply into the lines of 'alpha' and 'omega,' though the pack itself never enforced the nature - all knew, that Hydra, was the reigning Queen. Anyway signs of being 'above' the true crown was unwanted, and often disapproved at by the others. Like a unit, they would show aggression to any outsider who tries to do so.

As the other circled, she too started to match the pace. Her tail tucked away nice and neatly, as once upon a time she did not copy this pose. Even the covered of her neck, as the guard was more slender then some, she did not have a grand coat to appropriately cover her skin safely. Building muscle was the only way to protect herself from rather slim coat -

and making the first move. She lunged.

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With time and experience, Desdemona had learned. 

Given it was a spar, Hydra provided Desdemona the time to establish her own defenses—but she could see the moment the muscles within her companion shifted, and Hydra was swift to act in kind. Hydra lunged with Desdemona, head on rather than away. As good on the offensive front as she was on the defensive front, there was no hesitation as Hydra sought to occupy Desdemona's jaws with her own in an effort to engage her in a jaw spar, firstly. 

Her own parted and wide, draped wisely over her throat, the matriarch thus far remained level with the spidery wraith. To catch the others teeth with her own before a move could be executed in its entirety was her goal, a counter as much as it was preparation for her own maneuver to come.

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Desdemona has always been a slender figure ; though she may be taller then most, her head and body posture always held in submission, being lower to all in Empyrean. If raised right she would've been a better hunter then warrior, slim and supple, fast on the feet, quick to dodge Hydra's oncoming attack. Though her own offense was never that well, and what she desired to do likewise would result hydra misaiming from her jaw, an interlocking that didn't come to be, but the matriarch's jaws were quite close to her neck-

she wanted to step back but felt it was only the chance to do the same. Her own jaws snapped at the air, an aim of a one-shot to the neck.

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With her own teeth close to Desdemona's throat, it was easy to anticipate what Desdemona might seek to do in turn as the aftermath of her attack brought them both near enough. The matriarch could easily predict the move of Desdemona, which would be the move of any predator, and was swift to keep her own momentum going as she offered Desdemona the upward thrust of her shoulder blade, turning just so to bruise the mouth in a rough uppercut and ideally cause the other to lose true purchase of it from the shock. Her own neck and throat were bunched up, protected by the movement—she hoped this would cause Desdemona to reel backwards, in pain or confusion, though she reached for the side of Desdemona's neck with fangs curved as terribly as the reapers cutting scythe. 

Should they land, the similarities ended there—her bite was not meant to cut the thread of life, then, nor bleed her subordinate. Hydra was swift, and relentless—but not cruel to those she ruled, her family. Desdemona knew pain, in any event—she would not know it from her.

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Bet with the fangs of a shoulder, she bounced back - though Desdemona had grown since fighting with Hydra. She could tell the Matriarch had a thought to catch her unguarded - but her biggest advantage, was she knew in the end the other would not truly hurt her. In another battle she would not be as reckless, for as the woman managed to make her push back, and could see the jaws unhinged to her neck ; she moved upwards.

A push upwards in an almost bear position, a grasp to the neck, but she would rain down with her own head to an attempted naw at her face! Though her chest was full of openings, her heart would not be ripped out, nor' would she aim for the others eyes. Moreso wanting to try and grab her jaw, and force it away ; grab anywhere from ontop, and push downwards.

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Desdemona stepped back—Hydra knew she was figured out then, and elected to give the woman no space to think, no room to breathe—sheathing her teeth then, Hydra was swift to then surge forward in a flash just as the woman begun to rear.

Quick as a whip, the matriarch only just noted the firstly subtle adjustment of the others weight, had a vague sense of what the other intended—and so, Hydra would seek to take advantage of Desdemona in her compromised position of which Hydra begun to anticipate from experience alone. One did not become so expert a fighter without having some sort of sense for it, but Hydra had that and more. All this in mind as Desdemona reared upward, Hydra still continued in her forward surge, deciding simply this would suffice as her attack and then free to do so without any grip upon her then as she moved to knock the woman from where her weight was then distributed entirely—her hindlegs.

Hydra intended to knock the woman upon her back, or else her side, as she sought to use the whole of her own forward-moving weight to ram into her.

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"I concede." As the Queen strove to unbalance and have her fall - she succeeded. Desdemona though attempted to stop herself from falling, teeth into the air and paws flailing, she could warp her body in such ways of defense. She had fallen, and could feel her back hit onto the floor and only seconds her head collapsing onto her. For a moment the world had spun, but it relatively short-term when her jaded eyes looked toward Hydra, ears flattening in the sign of submission.

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More than just her own forward momentum was what the terrain itself offered her given the weather. The rocks had grown slicker, which could help as much as it could hinder should she herself misstep. But this day, it served her well enough as she struck, blinking the rain from her eyes; she then spun, quicker than usual, on her heel... the speed granted by the slipperiness of the earth, rather than any supernatural ability—none of which she possessed. Hydra was an expert of her craft, and though her capabilities might have some wonder at that, it was thanks to years and years of work at it that had yet to end. A prodigy as a child, it seemed not to end there. She had a way with the field, aided also by her passion.

As she moved over Desdemona, she heard the words over the steady thrum of the rain. Hydra's tail swayed above her as she stepped aside, licking her chops. “You have improved much,” she commended in earnest, having accepted her display easily upon seeing it. “I may not make you bleed, but I will hold back less and less as we spar,” she drawled. The scenarios would become all the more brutal, in the spirit of education—but never to the point of either of them arriving to an unrecoverable point. “To pull blows the more you excel would be a disservice to your progress, and unrealistic to the scenarios you may come to face against any enemy,” she acknowledged in a breath. She looked to Desdemona, presuming the shade would be more than alright with such progression... perhaps having even sensed its coming.

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"Though I was trained to be a warrior, my body continues to deny so." As much as she trained, Desdemona held the odds against those who had more well-built bodies to the mass. A long body and legs, ears like that of a bat and snout pointed and slim — all that shows her bastardly lineage that held no mass of a ancestors of a wolf but more of the smaller, more ignorant of the canine tree. Though she could feel her muscles ripe with time, it was the factor as well Desdemona was growing older. It almost seemed like some who came to this land had aged down, but she was not one of those fellows. As time she proven to try and improve herself, age was catching up on the aching joints.

She got up, nodding her head at Hydra and bowed slightly in gratitude and submission. The Queen wins as often, it was hard to fight her and take that moment of stride — but even then she wasn't too willing to try and force the other into submission. It wasn't within the spiders nature to go against those of a higher origin, even if she has improved in her omega-tendencies.. It was a hard battle to drawl onto. 

Yet she would never deny the chance to improve more, and flickered her head in an acceptance, "Did your parents train you?" she so asked, in a curiosity on who managed the hellion of Empyrean.

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Hydra listened to the other, licking her chops. “Mmm. You can learn to work with your body even still. I used to be frustrated I was not the size and stature of my father,” she remembered with a grin, “but there are advantages to this, I was taught. For your own build, speed is no doubt on your side,” she observed, gaze panning to those long legs Desdemona was blessed with. Longer than even her own. Desdemona appeared by now to be made of the same stone as the mountain they now resided upon, strong and solid.

The question did not catch her off guard, if only because she had coincidentally mentioned her father beforehand. “Yes,” she remembered, “ever since I was a little girl. I loved it so much, the moment I knew what I was doing I pursued it, and their lessons,” her voice was thick with nostalgia, though it was absent of sadness then as she remembered the joy of her girlhood. Hydra had always wanted to protect her family, even before she was aware of it. Hydra believed that it was part of her purpose here, in this life—to always be the one who kept her family safe, from threats real or imagined. And when she fought, it looked as though she was born for the task.

Her gaze turned back to Desdemona, humming, “Come, let us patrol,” she decided then, nipping the others shoulder in comradely fashion. Hydra felt invigorated, and would not permit her mind to wander to the loss of Amekaze and Charon then. That fierce yearning had returned, but there was nothing that could be done for it; she imagined chasing off some creature that meandered too close might also chase off that ache in her heart. Time did nothing for this wound, but her teeth often put something else in its place, and it was to her like a salve. The Ostrega already moved toward the Dragonsteeth, ear backturning to listen for Desdemona's accompaniment.

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A proud warrior brought up by the diligence of her parents — Desdemona wondered if she received similar treatment, how different would be? Though training has improved since entering the Ostrega domain, for the time of her birth, she remembered all was but just.. Self-teaching, and the abuse inflicted upon herself as she took the blunt of being an omega. Injuries inflicting to heart and soul, wounds covered by fur and dark skin, no longer to be seen — but always there.

There was nostalgia, warmth covering from the love of family itself. Momentarily she thought of her own siblings, ghosts she once chased around the lands and yet could never see. It was a wonder, to what they were doing now after disappearing. Were they well?

All was to be forgotten as she flickered her ear and nodded, paws stepping behind the other and following along for a patrol.

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