Say It Ain't So

It had been a while since the words with his father, but it still bugged Rob daily. Hourly. There was a flame that coaxed him to go speak with his dad, but he was so angry. If his father had been there that day, maybe none of this would have happened, and even if it did, at least he would have died with honor instead of living in disgrace and choosing a new mate, forgetting his old one completely.

These are the angry thoughts that moved through Robur Aqua's mind as he stepped slowly through the snowy plateau, turmoil etched into his face, tenseness felt within his frame.

Few days had passed, since Osprey had been accepted in the ranks of the Blacktail deer plateu. She hadn't done much exploring or seeking of new friends and allies though, spending her time resting after her long journey to this place. Up until the moment she had fallen asleep that first night, she hadn't been aware of how tired and exhausted she had been. Now, however, thanks to being together with her dearest members of her family, she had regained strength and any day now would be up and wandering around the lands, looking for an adventure.

It was one of the few sunny days in winter, therefore Osprey had come outside of the den and was basking in the sunlight - lying on one side, with eye's half-closed, but still alert to everything that was going around her. After a while she heard footsteps nearby and lifted her head lazily to see, what it was. "Hey!" she called out to the distant figure of another wolf. She got to her feet, shook her coat and approached him. "Who are you?"

Hearing a female's voice call out to him, Robur trotted over to where she lay. And she was beautiful. She was a thousand shades of grey and her orbs were a dusky jade. His breath caught.

"Hi. I'm Rob." There was a moment's pause before he tacked on: "You are gorgeous." His father was forgotten, thoughts replaced by the beauty that lay before him. The sunlight caught her pelt, her ribs slowly moving up and down with breaths and almost glittering in the sun.

Of all things Osprey had not expected to hear a compliment. Having been a tomboy for majority of her life and thinking that flattery was icky and pink girly stuff, she was not very used to hearing and receiving them herself. Therefore she did not know, what person was expected to say in these situations. The thought of "What would March Owl have done?" did not help this time, because Osprey was not sure, if her mom had been the compliment type.

"Wow - did not expect that," she finally said, shifting her gaze away from him, looking briefly to either side of her and then down at her feet. She licked her lips and blinked few times, trying to calm herself in this awkward moment. "Well you are nice looking lad too, Rob!" she finally said and smiled at him. "My name is Osprey."

Rob felt himself blush for — what it felt like to him since the feeling was unfamiliar — the first time ever. It was an uncomfortable feeling, and he wondered if this is how he made some females feel. He was used to being complimented on his looks — this was not foreign to him at all.

He chuckled at her comment. He liked her attitude. "Well, I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Osprey." Rob bowed to the grey female, and when he lifted himself again, a smile touched his lips while his tail swayed gently.

Osprey felt confused and she did not like that. Therefore she decided to use ages old technique that had worked fine before. The girl closed her eyes, imagined all of the undesirable emotions materialize outside her mind as a ball of mist. She willed all of them out and then with a deep sigh, she let them go. All was going to be fine from that point.

"So, Rob, you have been here for quite some time, haven't you?" she began the conversation on a neutral subject. "Care to show the newcomer around a bit?" Osprey tilted her head slightly to the side and smiled at him sincerely.

Rob nodded and his eyes lit up. As he walked past Osprey, he bumped her flirtatiously and grinned.

"There is a watering hole at the back of the plateau. It's warm enough now that it won't be frozen over and it'll chill you as it goes down." Rob had stumbled upon the sparkling pond not a week ago, and he was excited to share his newfound spot with the beautiful wolf that joined him.

When Rob bumped in her and offered a grin, Osprey drew her ears back and licked her lips. She did not feel very comfortable with this level of familiarity. After all - she did not know him that well, but she shook it off and followed him in a brisk pace. Eager to hear what he had to tell about this place.

A mysterious place? All the better. "Sounds peculiar..." she admitted. "So am I assume that you were mad enough to go swimming in the middle of winter?" Osprey teased him in a good-natured manner.

His smile faltered slightly when she appeared to be uncomfortable. Obviously, she was not okay with him being so friendly after just meeting, but Rob thought that since they were packmates, there should be an automatic trust and bond between them.

A deep laugh came from his chest. "I did not go swimming, no, but I have a feeling now that someone" he looked around in a playful manner, then rested his golden eyes on Osprey "might push me in."

Ospery still didn't feel comfortable with the way he spoke and acted, but she did not want to insult the other party. Clearly this was his way of making friends and any awkwardness on her side was not going to help her to return the favor. There weren't many other wolves she had met, which did not belong to the circle of her family. Maybe this was the reason, why the beginning of getting to know the other person wasn't that fluent.

"Whoever that is going to be - not me," she assured him. "Tell me - Rob - are you related to any of the wolves here? Alphess, perhaps?"

She still seemed very awkward, but Rob figured she was just the awkward type. She needed to suck it up. They were packmates and packmates were close. Maybe this chick just isn't used to friendly wolves, he thought to himself. He shrugged.

As for her question, he replied, "No, ma'am, I am not related to any of the wolves here. How about yourself?" If she happened to be related to any of them, Rob put his bet on one of the many black wolves in the pack.

ooc: Osprey is grey, by the way. :)

Packmates were close - she agreed on that part - but it took time to build a friendship and trust. Osprey hadn't been around here for long enough to make that kind of bonds. She had left her home a little less than a month ago after all. It was only understandable that she preferred to stay with those, who she knew the best. The safe circle.

"How did you come here then?" his reply surprised her a little, but then again - it meant they had something in common too. She wasn't related to the alphess or other wolves here too. Except her family members, of course. "Peregrine, Crete and Atticus are my littermates. We are the Redleaf-DiSarinno band," she joked, but come to think about it. They were a bit like mafia here.

ooc: I know, but that's closer to black than white or blonde like the other wolves of the pack

"So, you're banded together with the massive amount of black wolves here." He looked around. "There are so many. I am surprised you are not a darker wolf, seeing as your brothers are all very dark." Rob recalled that his two brothers took after his father, whereas he himself took after his mother with his deep honey brown coloring.

"I am a wanderer. I have been a part of dozens of packs along my journeys, coming and going as I please. I have stayed here the longest, though." Rob wasn't entirely sure why he had stayed, but deep down it was probably due to his sperm donor being only a few miles away from him.

"What can I say - we are the local mafia here," Osprey joked and flashed a grin at Rob. Now that they were talking about her side of the family, she felt more at ease. At her home there were only three color variations you could go after - black (her father's side), white (mom) and grey (her uncle and unbeknownst to her - grandpa too). Therefore the majority of the black wolves here didn't seem as something very surprising.

"Rumor says it that I was made different so that they could tell me apart from the other bunch of siblings," she mused. She sometimes wondered - with the number of kids her parents had got - how did they keep track of them and remembered all of their names. Good thing that they weren't all black. She was pretty sure that MO would have chosen then easier way then - by calling them all in one name. Like "Bugs" and then they would be Bug 1, Bug 2, Bug 3 and Bug 4.

"A wanderer - huh," she stopped, furrowed her brow and eyed him thoughtfully. "I start to get jelous of you folks - I mean - I make one great journey of a lifetime and here you are - wolves not much older than me, but seen, what the world has to offer," she smiled again and went on.

"Well, I am sure you were made different just so they could tell at least one of you apart," he joked. He bet that she was truly made differently because she was special.

"Sometimes I am jealous of the camaraderie that I miss out on. I, er, tend to get myself into trouble. I am surprised I am not dead yet." Rob always told others that his journeys were grand and amazing, but not all were. He had been chased from packs and barely scraped by death several times.

"That sounded almost like a compliment," Osprey teased Rob in a friendly manner. She was glad though that he hadn't said anything else about her looks, because then it would get all awkward again. "To return you the favor - I daresay that you would be very hard to mistake in the crowd too," she meant it. This fellow did look a lot different from those she had met before. Plus - as the time they spent together passed, the aura of mystery around him became more pronounced.

"So... which one are you then - a troublemaker, a black sheep or a bad boy? Should I be afraid?" she asked.

Relief flooded over Rob as she seemed to loosen up a bit. "Well, I know that was a compliment. Thank you. My mother always told me I was handsome." He smiled goofily after his joke, hoping she would take it as that.

He waggled his eyebrows. "Maybe I'm all three." A small chuckle came from him. "But I wouldn't be afraid... of anything besides my charming nature" He winked, hoping she knew he was just playing with her now as well. His humor tended to win the ladies over, but this one was pretty odd.

"Is that so?" Osprey asked, playing along. "You know... I always thought that scars made a man attractive in the girl's eyes," she referred to her mentor and good friend back at Falcons. Three tooth Pete, who had been an old wolf, and had his share of scars from old wounds got in hunts and fights. And he used to tease the conceited youth of the pack about "faces that were untouched by intelligence or experience".

"I see that you do not suffer from lack of confidence," she admitted, having a feeling that Rob's nose was a bit too much in the clouds. "I will take that you are a charmer then..." she continued, "What are the best ways to charm a person? If you don't mind to share."

Rob smiled. "I — fortunately — have no scars to marr my beautiful face. But I have plenty of emotional ones." He added on the last part as a joke, but now he was regretting those words. What would he say if she asked about them? "Hey, my mom was brutally slaughtered in front of me, along with my two brothers. Wanna grab a drink?" Real charming, he thought.

"Divulge my secrets? Hmm, I dunno, Osprey. I am going to need something good in return if I do that." He made it seem like what he knew were the most guarded and personal secrets in the world.

Osprey flinched, when he mentioned the "emotional scars" as sort of a joke. She hadn't meant for the conversation to go in this direction, because she of her own experience. As much as she wanted to move on, she was reminded of her mother's death every day, a word, a phrase, a feeling were enough to trigger memories and the realization that March Owl didn't walk in the land of living anymore. "I am sorry," she apologized to him and did not push him to tell her his secrets.

"This is puzzling," she was happy to hop on the cheerful platform again. Had she had a little more experience in her life, she would have tried to see the double meaning in his words. Since she didn't... "What is "something good" by your definition?" Osprey finally asked with a sly smile.

She had detected that there were true emotional scars, and not ones that he just joked about. He nodded, figuring she had her own scars to carry. Everyone did. Even my father... The thought popped into his head before he could even deny it.

Rob swallowed. "I — uhm — well," I would ask for a little kiss on the cheek normally, but not this time. I think she'd feel too awkward. "Why don't you just tell me a little about yourself? The first step to charming someone is to be genuinely interested in what they are saying. This time, though, I am more interested. You are my packmate, after all." He smiled and his eyes shone.

Had Rob known, Osprey had had a very similar idea in her mind. A little kiss would do. She had heard a lot of this stuff last year during her first heat. The male population of the nearby territories had been very infatuated with her for some time. At first she had enjoyed the attention, but you can listen to the "declarations of true love" only as long as it is something new. When you hear it for the tenth time from a stranger you have just met, it gets annoying.

Therefore she was pretty skeptical of the concept "love" between unrelated individuals and thought that she was also rather immune to empty flattering and romantic nonesense.

She contemplated Rob's words for a while and then said: "Well, let's make it more interesting. A game - I tell you something about me and you do the same about yourself. Sounds fair, doesn't it?"

For once, Rob had kept his mouth shut, and he was glad he'd done so. Osprey was not the type of she-wolf to swoon over words of endearment; she was too smart for that.

His tailed waved quickly when she mentioned the game. He was still a boy somewhere in his heart, innocent in many ways since he never truly had parents to guide him in the world. A piece of him would always love things like this. "Sounds good to me. Who goes first?" He smiled, enjoying himself in the moment and feeling like he had nothing to worry about for once.

"Excellent," Osprey replied, feeling a little smug for the fact that she had managed to convince this guy to play this game so easily. From what she had learned, since meeting him, was that behind that mask of playful allure there was a lot more to learn about him. He wasn't telling everything just the same way she was hiding her kings, queens and aces up in her sleeve.

She mused for a little while, how to begin - whether she should mention solid facts or go for the funny and challenging ones. Osprey cast a quick side glance at her companion and then made a decision. "When I was a kid I swore that I will be the first wolf to walk the moon. I still haven't lost hopes," she shared the wildest dream. Peregrine was the only one, who believed that she would achieve this one day. "Have you got a crazy dream you want to bring to life?"

Rob thought a moment and then frowned. He never thought about kid stuff after what happened to his family. "I guess something crazy, for me at least, would be having a family and settling down. I am not sure if it will happen." It sounded lame as it came from his mouth, but it was all he had. Rob didn't have "fun" dreams.

He wanted to change the subject quickly. "Do you see yourself having a family someday?" The question was in the same category as his answer, but he hoped that the question would distract Osprey.