ooc: forwarded few days in the future. @Burke
Now - come to think of it - Wraen thought it had been a very silly idea to leave Moonspear early in the morning, when there had been the smell of snow and storm in the air. Even more stupid to decide to wander further along the shores than usual. Harsh winds and heavy snowfall had caught the young, daring wolf not too late after and she had sought refuge in a nearby forest. Although it later turned out than in the very poor-visibility conditions instead of "nearby" she had chosen to go "far-far-far-by" a lot.
When the snowstorm had ended, Wraen found herself not only totally lost in a foreign place, but also that her tracks had been swept away. She did not panic - it had not been the first time she had got lost and her inner compass had always got her on the right tracks. So - all she had to do was - concentrate and follow the direction it would lead. South - in this case. Except, what her trustworthy "tool" had not taken in account was the mountain range that split the valley. And therefore, by heading South Wraen was not necessarily heading towards the destination in her mind.
One day passed, then the other and Wraen's inital optimism was replaced by worry - because nothing of the surroundings seemed familiar to her. What was worse - there weren't any other packs in the vicinity. Therefore no one, whom she could ask for the right way. On the third day, exhausted from walking, hungry and thirsty she stopped by, what appeared to be a waterfall, and began to drink the cold water. It skipped her attention that she had approached the only settlment in this part of the lands.
Burke was stubborn. He was extremely stubborn. He knew that his body was at an end. But Burke rather wanted to die in the field during his job and proving for the pack than to weakly lie down in a den waiting for his end. He was not that type of wolf. A few days back, he needed help as he was stranded in the deep snow, but his stubbornness made him want to get back at it. Even though his winter fur hadn't fully come through and his walk was rather stiff, he was determined.
The elder moved through the snow with a stiff walk. His pace wasn't that quick either but that didn't bother him too much. He needed more time these days to find the mark and then remark it with his own scent. Especially the faint markings were getting not being picked up by him. One could wonder how effective his border patrol was. For Burke it meant a great deal, he felt useful when walking the borders.
The male glanced up as he sensed someone approaching. He squinted his light blue eyes and raised his docked tail. He let out a deep gruff sounding woof to let the other know that they were rather close to their borders. Unless that was their intention. Though as the other came closer he felt like he knew this wolf. He squinted his eyes once more before it popped into his head. Osprey? Osprey!! The elder stiffly stepped forward with some eagerness in his step. "Osprey!," he croaked. "Is it really you, Osprey?," he asked. He hadn't seen her in so long. His first friend out side of Black Feather.
The water was ice cold and made Wraen shiver, while drinking it. Someone's call from a near distance made her look up and freeze. There was an old-looking, but rather large wolf hobbling her way with his gaze fixed at her and made her feel like a kid, who has been caught stealing apple's in the elderly neighbour's garden. And though the most logical solution for the situation was to put a big distance between them as fast as possible (in case this old man was not alone), the name he called out sparked her curiosity and made her stay.
"I am not Osprey," Wraen replied kindly, because it was not the first time someone from her mom's past mistook her daughter for the old and noble lady herself. "But she is my mother. Who are you and how do you know her?"
Burke blinked as the other spoke. She wasn't Osprey!? Burke gave her another glace and realized she was right. Her scent was different as well. The older male looked disappointed. He really thought he would see Osprey again. "Osprey had children?," he asked in surprise. Now he was digging deep into his memory he could remember that she scented of a mate, but not that she had children. Hadn't she been afraid of having children? Some of his memories were blurry.
"I'm Burke. I am an old friend of her. We were the most unlikely friends actually. Never in the same pack but we kept running into each other over the years," he spoke to her daughter. "Where is she now? Is she here in Teekon?,' he asked curiously. He wished to know. Perhaps he could see her once more. He always liked the storytelling they did together. He wondered what Malice would think of this.
"Unless you have another Osprey in mind or familiar, then apparently she did have kids. Otherwise, I would not be standing here talking with you," Wraen replied and smiled kindly at the old wolf, who looked very much like a warrior that had once been big, scary and feared, but now had succumbed to the one enemy it could not fight with - time and old age that came with it. She also wandered, why - if he had been a friend to her mother - had she not told him about her family. Or mentioned a Burke-character from her past to her children. But then again - how often had she asked and listened?
"Nice to meet you Mr.Burke. I am Wraen," she replied politely. "I am sorry to disappoint you again, but - no - she is not. She and my father founded a pack in the Southern regions and there they are raising a new batch of Osprante kin."
Burke slowly nodded. It must be her daughter then. He wished to see her again but he realized that wasn't possible. He could not travel far. Or at all. He took a long time to reach the borders even. "I guess you are right then. I'm happy for her she got kids in the end," he spoke with a firm nod.
The elder male liked the respect she showed. Mr. Burke had a nice ring to it. It was nice to hear that Osprey was still happy and having more kids. That was all he would have wanted for his friend. "Good to hear that she is well," he returned. They were never really that romantic together but they always had this weird friendship.
"So what about you then, Wraen?," he asked. "What bring you here? If you like to join then I can put in a good word for you," he pointed out. He couldn't smell so well anymore, so the faint scent of Moospear was something he would not be able to smell.
Wraen was surprised by Burke's very friendly demeanor and deduced that he must have been a rather good friend to Osprey, if he was able to treat her children just as kindly and politely as the old lady herself.
"Me? Well, I have a home North from here," she beckoned in the direction she thought Moonspear lied, though she was so far away from the packlands that she was not entirely sure. "It is called Moonspear and it is led by another of my mother's friends. Charon Ostrega," she explained.
"But I got here by chance and, since I ran into you - fate also had it's doing," Wraen beamed at the old man. "I am hopelessly lost - went on a stroll on a beach, a snowstorm caught me and I somehow ended up way further away from home than I should have."
Burke had been grumpy and distance for most of his life. Even to this day, he could be terrible towards others. If the male didn't like what was happening with his aging body he could be quite the grumpy old man. However, hearing about Osprey brought him good memories. Happy memories. He was rather surprised by it as well. "Ah. I see. Well, if you are ever in need of a new home my grandson runs this pack. If you tell him his grandma and your mother were friends he would let you in," Burke was pretty certain of it. He was not sure how long he would stick around to be there.
The name Moonspear did sound somewhat familiar though with his old brain he didn't want to take the energy to think about it for too long. "My god. You do sound like your mother. Fate," he snorted and shook his head. "Isn't Moonspear by that Caldera folk?," he spoke. Burke was pleased that his memory was with him somewhat today. "Or was that Caldera location Moonspear? I can't really remember," he muttered. He sounded grim. "You are quite far from where you live. Didn't your mother teach you how to navigate?," he commented.
"I will keep that in mind," Wraen replied and almost asked, if the said grandson was a handsome fellow, but she managed to catch that Mephistophelian (because her writer thinks that this is the best synonym to "devilish") thought in time and snap it in two. Since most parents thought their kids were beautiful no matter, how many warts and crooked legs they had, she thought that Burke would most likely tell twice as much, how great his young peer was.
"I do? I hear that now and then," though not always in the most positive light. Somehow - whenever she spoke with Charon about Osprey - she got the vibe that even though she had been his friend, he did not hold high regard for most characteristics she had had. "Not exactly. And we are definitely not the same. I mean - caldera wolves eat rocks and snarl at people," she said, though she had met exactly one wolf from there and it had been pretty normal.
"She did, of course," Wraen huffed. "But you know it is pretty hard to tell someone, how to navigate in a country that someone has never seen before. She tried - no doubt - and I ended up, where I wanted to, but still... I did not see half of the landmarks she mentioned," like "pass the tree that looks like a broken tail" - really? Which one of the ten you meant? Or "you will see a mountain that looks like jaws" - the one I saw, had some jaws missing. And so on.
"But I deduce that I can get back, can I?" she asked.
Burke gave one nod in confirmation. The male would tell his grandson about Wraen and if she might come here again that he was familiar with her name at least. The old male thought she was much like the female. Mostly in the way she was talking. But he could also tell that she was different from Osprey. He hadn't seen Osprey in so long. Perhaps what he thought of her wasn't even accurate anymore. His memory was getting a bit like a block of Emmenthaler cheese.
"Oh, right!" He remembered now. The Caldera was another pack, close to Black Feather. "I do remember them. And they are like that," he let out, his voice sounded slightly amused, only slightly. Burke was mostly messing with her but he could tell that she was young, and would probably learn to have her own landmarks that she would use. "Right. Well, just walk to those mountains north of here. Then perhaps you might recognize some of the land,' he offered. "If you can't manage that, I wouldn't go for the scout trade if I were you." Blunt as always. Part of his charm, of course.
Wraen laughed, when Burke did not question her odd views of the caldera wolves, even more - he agreed with her fully. So, it was not just her vivid imagination that had twisted Terance's story about his failure to join caldera wolves, it was really true. She missed the fact that the old man was messing with her entirely. And did it really matter, if her did?
"Those moutnains, aha," Wraen followed the direction the old man was showing and memorizing it. "Well, that is a pretty solid and big landmark I can't miss. Only, if I decided to walk with my eyes closed," she remarked, remembering the first and last time she had tried to pretend, what it meant to be blind, and had fallen face first in a deep mud pit.
"But wouldn't that be just the right reason to go for the scout trade? What fun is to learn something, if you are already good at it?" Wraen was keen to continue the conversation, because in a matter of minutes Burke had somehow won over her (not that it was very hard to do). And by her expression alone it was clear that she liked the old man and his company very much.
Burke thought that going to the mountains would be pretty easy to follow but the girl made a rather strange comment. Burke snorted with a frown on his face. "Why would you walk with your eyes closed? That literally makes no sense," he pointed out to the girl. Burke was often the one that didn't get those types of jokes. He really thought she was serious for a moment. Not because he was stupid but he just looked at things in a practical and logical way.
"Well you could, but then you would have to work hard. I am not the one to discourage working hard but sometimes it is nice to pick up a trade that comes to you naturally,' he voice grumbled. His voice was becoming old as well, it sounded like a grumble but he didn't mean it in a bad way. It was just the way his voice sounded now. "But by all means. If you want to be a scout who would I be to discourage you." His docked tail still standing up proudly as always as he talked to the girl. He might be enjoying himself as well, for once forgetting that his body was wearing him down lately.
"It makes no sense at all," Wraen agreed wholeheartedly, though the crooked grin and the mischievous twinkle in her eyes told that at the moment she was enjoying a joke only she could understand.
"Oh, but I love traveling and exploring," she countered, remembering all of the other small expeditions around the area that had gone better than this one. The people she had met along the way, the interesting places she had seen. "I spent most part of my first year as a nomad with my parents. I have been to places, I have seen things, though getting lost is a new thing for me."
"Hmm... what about a grumpy grandpa?" she mused out loud. "There is a vacancy for that job at the moment. Because my maternal grandpa is dead and the paternal - well - dad never spoke about him much."
He was glad that she agreed that it was crazy. Perhaps she wasn't a complete Lunatic after all. He just nodded his head firmly and then decided to plant his butt down. It seemed this conversation was going to take awhile. His movements were stiff, causing him to almost flop down into a sitting position.
Burke listened to her story and wondered if she should be bored by it. Somehow he was fascinated to hear about Osprey's life after him. So in a way, he was bored with the girl's story, who cares she traveled, but since he had a connection with her mom he kept listening. So Osprey raised her kids in a nomadic lifestyle. Very interesting. He just nodded to indicate that he was listening.
"You? I don't think you make the cut to be a grumpy grandpa. But who knows with hard work..." Was that an actual joke? Burke thought it was rather funny. Then she continued and slowly his eyes squinted. "Are you trying to adopt me as your granddad?," he questioned, raising one dotted brow.
"Are you even sure you can find this place again? I might be dead by the time you return," it may have sounded like a joke, but there was a hint of seriousness layered under it. He wasn't really that young anymore.
"I have heard that spinsters - you know those that never marry and grow old - they are grumpy by definition. So - I have all the chances. Plus, gender thing is not a problem either. After all, what matters is, how you feel and not how other people see you," Wraen explained, though until today being a "grumpy grandpa" had not been on the long list of people she wanted to be someday.
"Only, if you want to. I mean - you fit the description perfectly: old, stiff, with white beard (almost) and wise as the world," she named all of the qualities that made good grandfathers. According to the stories she had heard. "That's unfortunate then..." though that was one of the things grandpas did - they grew old and then a little more and then they died. "In that case... I won't bore you with my dashing personality - I guess, you are more curious about, what Osprey is doing, huh?"
Burke snorted once more. If this girl wanted to become a spinster then there was really something wrong with her brain. Though he often thought that about Osprey as well. Now she was talking about being a gender but not really being that gender if you didn't feel that way? If you were male you were male. Simple. Same for females. He frowned. "Right, I hope for you that you don't become a spinster. Would you want to become one?"
Burke disliked to think of himself as stiff, but he was. Plus he was old and had a white face. "I'm super wise," he just nodded and lifted his muzzle up proudly. He had been amazing in his glory days, Burke thought so at least. She was charming he could give her that. "Why do you think I would want to hear about Osprey? She is married now, right? More kids and all that?," Burke mumbled. Was he jealous? Nah. He didn't get jealous. "Tell you what, if I am still alive the next time you come visit here I might think about your proposal," he stated with a firm nod.
"I don't know, really. I feel that they are undermined by a great deal," Wraen shrugged, though she had never met a live (or dead for that matter) spinster in her life. Most female wolves she had met, were either just as young as her, or were very comfortable, where they were. None of the expected grumpiness.
"Well, you are right about that part and yet - you were her friend, right?" she was confused by his negative responsive. If Osprey had been her old pal, she would have wanted to know everything about her. She was - in fact - a pal, and she missed her mother dearly.
"You do know that "I will think about it" is an equivalent of "big fat no". Just in a nice wrapping paper?" Wraen asked, tilting her head to the side. "Plus, you might be dead as a nail the next time I wander this far, but you have already been immortalized."
Burke wondered why they were undermined. "And why do you think that is?," he asked curiously. The male had a mostly negative image of spinsters for some reason. He didn't even know why. "I was her friend, yes," he spoke. They always had been a curious set of friends. Just friends. 'Just friends really, nothing too special." But was that really true? He didn't want to think about it too much.
'It is not. I am an old man I need to think about this more carefully if I want to take on another child before my impending death," he stated. "This is very true. The next time I could be dead," he nodded. "Oh have I? And how have I been immortalized?," he asked curiously. He liked the idea of that, being immortalized.
"Let's wait a few years and I will tell you, how I got there and what it feels like," Wraen teased the old man with a rather dark humor. Burke himself had said that he did not have much left and that he was quite busy with dying at the moment. How hard can that be? Wraen thought, but did not ask, because this was yet another mephistophelian idea.
"Well - in that case my lips are sealed," she replied. If he was not interested, she was not going to burden him either. But Wraen disagreed with the usage of "just friends" - those two words simply did not go together. A friend was someone you cared about. "Just" somehow made it irrelevant.
"What is there not to take?" she pressed the matter jokingly further. "I am weaned, I have learned to walk and talk and live on my own. The least burdeningly child you are ever going to get." At this she burst out in laughter, imagining Terance's face, if he saw, what she was getting herself into. "I remembered a story my mom once told me and I am pretty, pretty sure that you are the main character there. Not too many wolves that have got no tail to boast with."
Aww, now I pictured Wraen telling Terance about Burke and wanting him to meet Burke as well but then they are too late and he is already gone. It made me a bit sad, haha.
Burke squinted his eyes when the other make an age joke. He wouldn't be around to ask her that, though she probably knew that hence why she made the joke. Burke quirked up his lips a bit, only slightly amused. He rolled his eyes when she wouldn't tell anything about Osprey. On the other hand, he didn't want to know much about her life now. Somehow it made him wonder too much.
"I guess those are fair points," he admitted. "Alright. I will be your grandpa," he decided then. Mostly because he decided that he liked the girl and if she would be around to talk to him more he wouldn't really dislike that. While he normally disliked quite much in his life. He realized he hadn't been busy thinking about what he couldn't do anymore. He liked that. He could still sit and talk at least.
"She had a story about me?," he sounded suspicious. "Will you tell it to me, then I will be the judge if it was me or not," he stated, almost proudly so. Though he could remember how they made up stories together. They were always so silly. The stories of bunnybutt, aka him.
I have got an impression that Terance does not care much for his mother's old acquaintances or relatives. Not as much as Wraen anyway. But it would be nice if Burke did not cross the rainbow bridge before they have a second meeting.
"Several, really," Wraen told, remembering the game her mom had invented to play either before going to sleep or, when they were scared and needed to focus their attention at something else. It featured a hero and depicted one day in his life at the Forbidden forest. Osprey used to start the story, pausing from time to time and the kids had to add a sentence or an event that could happen to that wolf. And though there had been several heroes, the top favorite was Benny The Mountain and his fearsome group of marauders.
"Benny The Mountain - he was big, tall and scary and he was kicked out of the fairy-fales about princes and princesses, because he had lost a tail in a freak accident. The fairies kicked him out, because they did not think he fit the script and general ideas of, what the heroes look-like," Wraen explained and then went on.
"But he was a rational wolf and did not give two damns about, what fairies thought of him. And he also had never really liked the tinkling-tankly-sugary-sweet fairy tales. Especially the princes, who were vain and too handsome for their own good or princesses - all they knew were, how to get kidnapped, how to scream dramatically and faint."
All of the things mentioned earlier were the reasons, why this particular character was a firm favorite among the kids. He did not abide to rules and therefore he could get in any kind of situation and get out of it as well.
"He went to live in the Forbidden forest with other misfits and soon formed a gang of marauders," the backstory was almost finished. The short version at least.
"And they had many adventures. Each time my mom began the story, we could get involved in the story-weaving. Therefore... there was this one story, where Benny The Mountain stole and wore dragon's tail for a day. Or, where he outwitted a resident evil witch, who had been constantly trespassing in his lair. He went to the underground world of dwarves, made a wager with The Fairy King and won, they stole the magic wand of a scatter-brained wizard and many more."
When he listened to the female Burke felt some similarities with his own life. At first, the thought that him being kicked out of the fairy group was a reference to when he was kicked out of Black Feather, but then, as she continued, it felt that the group of misfits was a far better description of Black Feather. Burke wondered if the stories were really about him though. They all sounded far better, even his previous nickname was different from the one in his story.
She mentioned all the weird things like fairies, dwarves, and wizards. Burke couldn't help but roll his eyes. She had the same wild mind and imagination as her mother it seemed. "I think you have me confused with someone else,' those were his only worlds. Burke gave a light shake of his head. She was so much like her mother it was almost confusing to him. "You are just as crazy as she was.'
Not sure he will live that long :( <3
"And I think I am still right," Wraen countered in a friendly manner. Osprey had definitely drawn inspiration from this guy - he fit the description, even if the character itself and facts from his biography did not. After all Burke and her mom had had a very unusual friendship, being the total opposites of each other and ticking well, when together. In mutual teasing and friendly insults department at the very least.
"Mom never told the glorious and true life stories of people from her past. Rather the people from her past got roles and opportunities to play and live on in her stories," Wraen felt that she had to clarify. "Therefore - you might die, people will most likely forget about you in a few years time - but a memory about a big, bad, no-nonesense wolf with no tail will live on," she finished.
"I guess that I have tired you enough, haven't I?" Wraen asked. "If you show me the right direction to the North, I will be on my way."
Burke listened to her curiously. She really had her own way of thinking. Burke didn't believe that the stories were really about him. They felt glorified and different from how he acted. Was that how Osprey saw him? He accepted Wraen's explanation of how her mother told the stories. He just nodded his head to confirm he understood. Somehow he liked that a good version of him would stay alive.
"I would have told you if you bored me," he pointed out. "I can tell you where North is," he spoke and pointed his muzzle to the North. "To those mountains in the distance, and if you run into a plateau to high to climb go west, there will be a slope to get on the plateau," he explained. He hoped that she would be better at finding the way.
Wraen memorized the directions, deciding not to ask about any specifics, because they would make understanding more difficult and it was very likely that she would wander off course regardless. This, however, she did not say to Burke, not wanting her newly-acquired grandpa to think that she was dim-witted or something similar.
"It was nice meeting you and, if we never meet again - then have a safe journey to the afterlife," she said with a humorous glint in her eyes, though she hoped that by the time she came for another visit, the live inspiration of her childhood hero would not have kicked the bucket yet.
"Good luck and farewell," with this, she waited a little to see, if the man had anything to tell her, then turned around and left.