Firefly Glen Reminds me of childhood memories

Charon understood what she meant. Mostly because so far, Korei Julia had been such a disappointment to him; perhaps the expectations that they had put on her were bigger than those on her sisters, and she had not made them true. He was pretty sure if Hydra'd been named after their ancestors they would've been glad for it and proud, but it was always a risk. "Hmm-mm," he mumbled in response to indicate he'd heard, while he thought more on the subject as they made their way towards Moonspear.

"I did not offend you, did I?" Wraen asked, when she felt that there had been a little too much silence between them. She had an occasional tendency to talk first and think second, which her family members had tolerated because of her sweet and silly nature. However, speaking out your mind so openly with strangers could get her in trouble.

"I mean - after all... there is always an option to make a different meaning to a once-used name. You can always be better..." or worse, but she did not want to think about the bad things.

Charon hadn't really been offended, but he felt irked now by her question. Like he'd be offended by such petty things. "No," he responded gruffly. "I was just thinking." Anyway, it didn't matter. He quickly shed the subject and said, "What are your siblings called?" The tiny ones he meant, of course, as he already knew about Terance, Wraen and Sarah.

Wraen was a peacemaker by nature and therefore very sensitive to other people's moods. Though Charon denied it, she felt that she had hit the wrong string somewhere and felt imediately bad for doing so. In her perfect world everyone was happy and no one got angry or hurt by others. 

"There is Cassandra and Maia - both younger sisters - and there is little brother Coriander or Cori for short," she told. "Mom says that they all take after dad, but I think that as they grow up, the similar traits will even out."

Charon was glad to just swap back to the subject of Osprey's adorable children that she was able to bear because she was totally healthy and not at all slowly decaying like she'd said when they last met. He nodded as Wraen shared the names and smiled. "Nice names," he complimented, "Especially Coriander." He didn't know the kid yet, but he was sure that he was a good kid, just like Terance and Wraen.

When she said they took after their father his expression fell momentarily. He'd never approved of Dante as a partner for Osprey and though they hadn't met in a long time, Charon wondered what Dante thought of him now. There was a certain satisfaction to the fact he now had two of Dante's children in his pack. "All of them?" he said in wonder, imagining three miniature Dante's. "There's one of ours in this year's litter who looks just like me." He smiled softly, glad for it; he loved Vela and she was absolutely perfect, all the more because of her looks. Vela could do no wrong in his eyes.

Wraen was unaware that Charon and Dante had not been on good terms, because her mother had never mentioned it and her father did not dwell on reminiscing about old enemies, when there was so much to do in present time. Leading a pack, herding the youngsters, enduring their playfully painful bites and taking care of them all left no time for thoughts like "oh, how I hated that guy!"

"Aha. More or less - they share a lot of common traits. And Cassandra especially - it is like looking at a miniature dad," Wraen chuckled about the ongoing family joke of Dante Jr. "But mom says that Maia has a glint of mischief in her eyes the same as her brother's. Coriander... Coriander is his own thing. I am very curious to find out, what he grows up to be. His frame might be young, but one has a feeling that his soul is very old," she could banter about them all day long, if not for the fact that it made her miss them all the more. 

"Which one of yours looks just like you?" Wraen asked, guessing that it could be Jarilo.

Charon nodded with a smile on his face as Wraen went on to tell him about the pups. Even if they were Dante's, they were still also Osprey's. He trusted her good influence would overrule Dante's bad influence. If Terance and Wraen were any tell then they'd be fine too.

At her question he said, voice laced with pride, "Vela, one of the girls." She looked just like him and though he loved his other children, he couldn't deny that she was his favourite. "Galaxy's all white and Jarilo's darker." Not just like Ame, because he was a bit smallish and there were some lighter tones of grey to his darkness, but still. He thought of Ran, who'd looked much like him when she was just born, but quickly pushed the girl from his mind.

If Charon had spoken his mind about Dante out loud, especially about having a bad influence on children, Wraen would be confused. In her eyes her parents were perfect, they had their flaws, but they had given nothing but best for her, raised her with affection and taught everything she needed to stand on her own feet. 

But her newly-found friend's lips were sealed on the subject, therefore she could admire the lovely names and attempt to quench her excitement to meet them in person. "Tell me about your home - mom told me that you had offered her to join it at one point."

She asked him to tell her about his home and he looked up at Moonspear which was towering over the territories in the distance. "It's that mountain, Moonspear. Biggest mountain in the area." Its only rival was the Sunspire, but if you asked Charon, Moonspear was possibly even bigger than that and definitely more impressive. Ame had once claimed the Sunspire and he suddenly found himself wondering what her opinion on the matter would be.

"There's forests at the lower slopes and many beautiful caves and sight-seeing places. It's a great place for views." He wasn't really sure what else she wanted to know, as he could tell such diverse stories on it. The wolves, the scenery, the view...

"That mountain?" Wraen beckoned to the peek towering in the darkness. "No way," she shook her head incredulously and stopped to regard the view from the distance. It looked like a truly marvelous place and somewhere there had to be a dragon hiding, because for all she knew the surroundings were just perfect. 

"Do you have the mythical folk living in your kingdom?" she posed somewhat childish question. "Mom said that in Donnelaith - where I was born - there had been all kinds of creatures living - fairies, dwarves, goblins and even snot trolls."

Charon smiled proudly when Wraen admired his mountain from afar, even taking a moment to take it in as it towered above them in the distance. There was little that stroke his ego more than compliments, and particularly on things he was already proud of, such as his mountain. Though he had been its Alpha for nearly two years now — and two thirds of his lifetime — Charon liked to be reminded of how beautiful the things he already had were and how great that made him. "Yep, that's it. Tallest mountain about." He didn't realise he'd already just said this same thing moments ago.

At her next question he looked thoughtful for a moment, visage not betraying much. Truthfully, Charon had got to a point where he had felt too old for his imaginary friends and dragon quests and all the things he had done with Osprey. He'd reached that point a long time ago, even before he had settled on Moonspear. It was around the same point that he'd fought with Dante, ironically so. "Well, yeah, I mean, to my children there are," he said neutrally; he'd use all the imaginary creatures in stories he told his children and encouraged them to play creatively, but once they grew up Charon expected them to behave like adults. He thought it admirable that Osprey had always stayed so young and imaginative but he didn't think that it was really a thing adults should do, playing among each other. That was just for kids and with kids.

Osprey had never considered that just because she was all grown-up and old she should leave her imagination and "bettered" view of life behind. Being imaginative and creative was a big part of who she was. Wraen was the same - of course, she knew that the chances of meeting a real dragon or finding fairies were rather slim and that not all wolves retained their playfulness in the adulthood. But - hey - even the most serious ones needed a time out and that's where her nature would come in handy. 

"I believe there really are," Wraen replied. "Your mountain seems to have the right kind of aura. Have you always lived here?"

Charon was reminded of Osprey's childish nature again, a thing he'd loved when he was little but now it wasn't so charming. Oh well, he supposed that some wolves just didn't grow up, and at least they were good as puppysitters to keep the young ones' imagination active. He knew that Vela was eager to explore the world with her imagination and so it didn't hurt, in his eyes, to cultivate it, so long as they grew out of it at some point. He had at one point decided he was too old for this and gotten rid of his imaginary friends and childish viewpoints.

He decided to focus on the question she asked to shift subjects. "No, I was born at Stavanger Bay, further to the north. But I've lived here for nearly two years now, so it feels like forever." That was two third of his lifetime after all. "Me and my mate moved here when our packs were both small and we decided to band together and find a new home for our combined pack." It was a great move, time had proven, and Charon was glad that he had once taken the initiative to get things moving.

ooc: I think that we can fade this out in the next posts and have a new thread?

"I recall something about Stavanger bay, now that you mention it," Wraen out of all Osprey's children had been the most avid to hear stories of their mother's youth and she had done the favor. "She lived there for a while, I think, and... that's where she met you for the first time, didn't she?" or was it the other story about an illict offspring of her brother's, who had come from a pirate island. Bones had been her name.

"Though looking at you now it is kind of hard to imagine that you were a small puppy once," she added softly. "I mean, pretty much the same way, when you look at your parents. You have a feeling that they were born... well, grown up and old."

Charon nodded when Wraen asked for confirmation. "Yeah, I was little when we first met when she stayed in the Bay for a while." Then, as she mentioned it being hard to imagine him as a pup, he said, "Yeah, I remember feeling the same way about Osprey and my parents and everyone I knew when I was little." He looked up towards the mountain and said, "Come, we're almost here. I'm sure Terance will be happy to see you." And stepped towards the mountain with a warm smile, glad to have a second of Osprey's children here home on the mountain now.

yes, let's! this is my last post here :D