Wolf RPG

Here she was again, standing at the lake's edge, staring over the rippling surface. Saena wasn't here as far as she could tell. This didn't surprise Wildfire, though she didn't know whether to be disappointed or relieved. Their brief encounter had been volatile in a way and she wasn't keen to repeat the experience. Still, she would have been lying if she'd said she wasn't still curious. She wanted to pick her half-sister's brain, understand her vehement hatred for Peregrine and Fox. Maybe there was a part of Wildfire that thought she could somehow mend things, though it was never a conscious thought.

She dipped her head downward to lap at the cool, sweet water, then began to mosey toward her left, heading northwest. When the shore curved away, she kept going in a straight line, following one of the streams branching from it. Wildfire spent a few hours scouting the nearby territories and finally forming a fairly solid mental map of this area. She recognized Phantom Hollow, where she'd met Dante, as well as The Heartwood, where she'd encountered June and Charon. Unless she was badly mistaken, Redhawk Caldera was almost due south from here, perhaps a few degrees west as well.

The youth wound up back beside the lake after a time, where she slumped down beside the water with a contented sigh. She felt freer now, having admitted her forays to Fox. Evidently, the late Junior had not only wandered away at her age, she had left the pack entirely! Wildfire had a hard time understanding how she could have done that. Wildfire felt more and more grownup every day, yet she couldn't imagine severing ties with her parents, siblings and pack to shack up with some strangers. The whole thing was preposterous. But then again, Junior had been a bit of a psycho by the sound of it.

Unlike in previous trips, Dante had left the plateau knowing exactly where he was heading and why. He knew he was going against his own suggestions in doing so, but pushed that from his worries. The business with Mordecai had reminded him of the man's reception in the nearby forests, and he wished to scout briefly the area. Not too close, mind, for they could hardly stand to antagonize more packs into bad relations, but enough to discover exactly where this place was. And perhaps how strong their numbers.

The slow accumulation of data was deliberate. It wasn't something he had chased initially, content as he was to keep to his own, but old habits were beginning to make themselves known once more, amongst them the desire to assess strengths or weaknesses in those who might become allies or enemies.

While rounding the lake, though, he was waylaid momentarily by the sight of a familiar, young ember on the shore. His first inclination was to pass without word, an aloofness afflicting him lately, but instead he shoved that down. He doubted she was lost again, but it would hurt nothing to ensure this.

"Attica?" He posed it a question, but it was more directed as to her presence here than whether or not she was who she was.

A voice called her name (well, one of them) and Wildfire glanced sharply in that direction, already halfway standing. "Dante," she said, a breath of relief escaping her. She pushed herself completely upright, then took a few steps toward him. Although she wouldn't go as far as to call him a friend, he was definitely an acquaintance. She was not opposed to forming a friendship with him, at least not based on his geographical location or allegiance. But as the saying went, it was a two-way street, so it was up to him as well.

"Hi," she said when they were closer, managing a small smile. "It's funny to run into you here," she said before they could start exchanging dry, generic greetings. "I know we didn't bring it up last time but if you don't mind, I want to ask you some questions... about your history with my parents." As the words left her mouth, her heartbeat suddenly accelerated. She didn't necessarily want to subject herself to another tirade like Saena's, though she braced for one just in case.

He'd been prepared for a brush off, a polite greeting and maybe, perhaps, an explanation that she was simply checking out the area. The very last thing that Dante could have expected was a question about the past, a subject he seemed destined to go over countless times before it faded once more to time's rush.

His surprise probably showed, breaking the frown that seemed permanently etched some days lately. "That's... a complicated story." He didn't refuse, but he couldn't imagine what had spurred her to ask. "But if you want answers, I can give you as best I know." He wasn't going to lay it all out immediately, lengthy tirades not one of his favorite thjng's to engage in, but the fact that she sought another aspect was highly surprising to him. He would have guessed she would have gone to her parents for such a tale and accepted what they said with little argument. What reason would she have to doubt it, after all? His ear twitched as he waited patiently for her to elaborate.

He seemed a bit taken aback by her request, though he didn't react negatively. Wildfire let out a relieved breath, then told him, "I know." She paused, then tried to think of where to start, and decided to just jump right in and began by saying, "I ran into Saena here just the other day. To make a really long story short"—she flashed him a quick smile at that—"she said lots of terrible things about my mom and dad. So I went and asked my mom for her side of the story. I have two very different takes now. Saena mentioned you by name, saying you would—what's the word? Corroborate?—what she said." Wow, using a big word like that made her feel very adult.

But she didn't linger on that thought. She pressed on. "Saena insists my parents abandoned all of you without a goodbye. But my mom says my dad did say goodbye, even invited you all to come if you wanted. But she wasn't there for it because she was badly hurt." Wildfire took a breath and gathered her thoughts. She didn't want to forget anything important. "Also, Saena said Junior went after me because my dad abandoned her with the rest of you... but my mom said she was the one who left, when she was my age. All my parents wanted to do was find a new home together and it sounds like everyone hated them for that and it's just gotten worse since then." And Junior just sounds like a loose cannon, she thought but didn't say.

After spitting out all of that, Wildfire realized there was no question in there anywhere. Well, she would remedy that. "What happened, Dante, according to you?" Maybe she would just go around, interviewing wolves one by one, until she got the most complete picture she could. Even Wildfire, young as she was, knew she would never, ever get an objective version of the story, though.

Everything suddenly made a hell of a lot more sense when Saena's name came forth, showing why this question came up in the first place.  That the two had interacted somewhat courteously made the Alpha glad.  He hadn't suspected Saena of the same anger her sister held, but that didn't mean emotions wouldn't run high.  Perhaps if the girl could no longer acknowledge her father, she didn't need to be without family entirely.  He wondered if perhaps a time would come when Saena would acknowledge Fox's children as siblings.  

He took in Fox's side with some interest.  He was hardly surprised she would interpret it in such a way, though he couldn't stop the chuckle that came forth.  "I can tell you one thing for sure - no one hated them for leaving.  At least I didnt."  He shook his head. It would be easier to tell it as it had happened, explaining all.  "When Peregrine and Fox left to find a new home, they told no one that this was their plan.  Not their children, nor Blue and I, who were their Betas at the time.  We had no clue they planned to leave, and our first news of it was when Peregrine announced to the entire pack he was leaving.  No individual warnings, no farewells... Just an ultimatum.  He couldn't even spare a few minutes to inform his family beforehand.  Ask them specifically."  

Dante then looked at her, gauging her reaction.  "Your mother isn't wrong... He did ask.  But he did it as an afterthought, with no real affection or effort.  Can you imagine if you found out your father was leaving with another mate, to start a new home, at the same time as the rest of the pack and feeling like he didn't care whether or not you came?"  He sat down, tail shifting thoughtfully in the grass behind him. "I don't think Peregrine meant it that way, but that was how it was taken."  And nothing had been done to rectify it.

"The only thing that I was angry about was being put on the spot like that.  A long time ago, I told Peregrine that I had no interest in leading... and yet, as he left, he informed the pack that Blue and I would be sorting out the issue.  It was a shock, and not a pleasant one."  He hesitated a minute. "Again, unintentional.  But the entire thing, it was a mess.". He had expected better and been let down.  Their leaving was never the issue - it was the lack of thought they had spared for the rest of their 'family' at the time. He knew he missed some of her questions, but she could request clarification, and he simply allowed the tale to sink in instead of trying to chase down her other queries.

She expected him to speak with the same hatred as Saena. Instead, Dante described the situation in an even voice, leaving out most personal editorializing and just sharing the facts as he knew them. Wildfire appreciated this very much and demonstrated her gratitude by listening to every word that left his mouth. By the time he finished, he had truly elucidated both sides of the story.

"If my mom was hurt, he was probably not thinking straight," Wildfire thought aloud, "and maybe rushing. But, yeah, I can see why his actions hurt feelings." The youngster licked her lips, catching Dante's pale gaze with her own. "My dad handled it kinda crappy, like you said, but you also said you don't think he meant to be a jerk. Why didn't anyone give him the benefit of the doubt then? My mom's told me some of the history and he lived at Blacktail Deer Plateau for a really long time, didn't he? Did you all already hate him before?" she wondered. If so, why?

Before Dante could answer that, she had to know, "And if Junior left before all that, then why did she try to kill herself? And why did she attack me? Saena said Junior felt abandoned but how can that be if she was the one to leave first? Was there something wrong with her?" Wildfire tried to ask this delicately. Had anyone considered that she was mentally unstable? Even at her age, she knew a normal wolf didn't do the things Junior had done.

"Maybe so," he said with a slight frown, "but sometimes, when you lead, mistakes aren't something you have the luxury of making."  He thought to Mordecai and Harlyn's recent departure.  A statement he was becoming too familiar with.  He couldn't understand or excuse Peregrine's actions, not completely.  Unlike he, and unlike Mordecai, he could never leave without giving word first.  And never on the terms Peregrine had.  If Fox had been well enough to leave behind, she had been well enough to wait a bit longer.  It was a view he could not compromise on, a lack of emotional empathy that stemmed from being incapable of understanding anything but strict adherence to responsibility.

"None of us hated him before."  Dante had actually held him to rather high esteem. "But I don't think he really saw what he did as wrong.  If he did, he failed to acknowledge it.  Besides, mending bridges is a little hard when your packs rarely interact."  Hard and, sad to say, unnecessary.  Now other issues stood in the way.  One that she addressed head on with her question about Junior.

He was loathe to go into that, the pain of it still raw.  He'd gotten past some of his misplaced aggression, nights of restless realizations bringing things into perspective, but it was still a bit soon.  The painful evens too close together, too jumbled to be objective.  He looked down, taking a moment to put it in order.  The facts.  "That didn't happen until after, a while after really.  We took in an injured member of his pack, and I allowed Peregrine to come see her.  But while he was here, he didn't seek out Junior, who had returned.  Saena either.  Junior... she took it hard.  They had been extremely close, before all this."  He remembered, even if Peregrine did not.  She had been his shadow, in a way, when he joined.  His doting attention, the agony when he thought he had lost her, and the joy when she was found again were images that no longer fit.  So much had changed.

"There is a difference between leaving of your own free will and being left behind.  In one, you are in control. In the other, you have to accept that you are no longer what is most important.  still, for a wolf to harm themselves to such an extent over rejection is extreme.  Yes, there was something wrong with her." He felt that familiar twinge of regret.  "We tried to help.  But there is only so much possible."  The last hurdle had been Junior's own to clear and she had failed.

Wildfire didn't say it out loud, though she disagreed with Dante. Everyone made mistakes, whether they were kings or slaves, and she had already come to realize her beloved parents weren't perfect before all of this. She believed him when he insisted they hadn't hated her father beforehand, so it really did boil down to a miscommunication gone horribly wrong. She still favored her parents' side, though she didn't mention that either. It was probably a foregone conclusion anyhow.

He began to talk about Junior specifically. When he told her about how Peregrine had come back to visit without seeing Junior and Saena, Wildfire's brow furrowed. If that was true, then she could certainly see the fault in that. If that's where a majority of Saena's feelings of abandonment and anger stemmed, she sort of understood. It didn't change her own opinion of her father—the man had done nothing wrong by her—but at least it shed light on her half-sister's perspective.

"She abandoned her pack and family first," Wildfire pointed out quietly. It was somehow validating for someone on Junior's side to frankly admit there had been something wrong with her. "I feel bad for her," she said in an even lower voice. She pitied the young woman who had sought to harm herself, an innocent baby at the time, and in doing so committed suicide. Obviously, Wildfire didn't blame her pack for taking such extreme action—she might be dead otherwise—but if Junior had been mentally ill, was it entirely her fault either?

Some of this was way over her head, she had to admit. "Thanks for answering my questions, Dante. By the way... my name isn't Attica. Well, it is. It's Wildfire Attica." He had been so forthcoming with her, the youth just wanted to return the favor.

He didn't argue with her quiet statement; it was true. She left first. But that didn't mean she was rational about the whole thing either. He honestly didn't think any of them could say they were objective in the matter, not a single one who took part in it. Everyone had a bias, as in everything.

"Wildfire." He confirmed with a nod and a slight smile, somehow not surprised he'd been given a partial truth on their first meeting. Stranger danger was apparently not as dead as he'd imagined. "It suits you." A compliment, in his eyes. He enjoyed that she took his words without argument and genuinely seemed to consider them, despite the fact that they weren't one hundred percent in line with her own family's take. It showed him a lack of bias that was surprising, especially considering whose offspring she was.

"Anytime." He took a beat, then decided to keep the truth train rolling. "Talking about things like this, it helps sometimes. Especially with those who weren't around to have much of an opinion already." Her views were unbiased, unlike those he would normally talk to. Blue Willow and Lasher would never attempt to belittle him for an opinion, but he worried at times about offending them should he say the wrong thing. They had felt as strongly as he, and some of those emotions he knew they differed on. With Wildfire, the chance at an argument was definitely there. But the stakes weren't nearly so high.

His remark about her name earned a twitch of her lips. "So I'm told. I've never actually seen fire, though I guess that's supposed to be a good thing? I did see what it can do to a forest. Have you seen The Heartwood? It's not far from here. It's burnt to the ground." Her lips pressed together as she recollected the sights and smells of the damaged woodland. "Charon said lightning must have struck a tree and started the fire during that big storm." But that was neither here nor there, really.

The youngster thought back on the conversation so far and something popped out at her that hadn't as much before. "You say you took in one of my dad's pack mates and that he came to visit. A lot has really changed then, huh? You wouldn't help a wolf from Redhawk Caldera and my dad would never visit either. My parents barely ever leave the caldera at all and definitely don't make a lot of friends outside it," she thought aloud. "Neither of them probably like that I want to be an Outrider. They would be mad if they knew I was out here by myself," Wildfire even admitted.

"It is. I haven't seen the Hearteood, but we had our own run-in with it.  It's a sight to see, but the result.  It's overwhelming."  He could still feel the damage it had done to his throat, a roughness that, unknown to him, would never leave completely.  He'd been marked surely as the plateau, perhaps fittingly. "He's probably right. That is what caused ours. A different storm though." The summer had been a dry one, which could be another cause. He was no naturalist and couldn't say for sure.

Wildfire was definitely right on her next point. A hell of a lot had changed. A few months ago he couldn't imagine turning away a wolf in need, especially one he had called friend. But he knew that now, should one of them show up in need of aid, he would indeed turn aside. He was perhaps past the point of losing himself should they run into one another, but he hadn't enough graciousness in him to put them up if they required assistance.

"No, I suppose you are right." Children of course excepted. He was acutely against holding the sins of the father against the daughter or son, for obvious reasons. "Outriding is an important job though. No pack can ignore their neighbors, even if only to keep an eye on them." His current methodology. No relations, but wary explorations that showed how close they were and if they came close to the Plateau. "I'm sure they'll come to be glad of it." If not, perhaps Wildfire would need to branch out to do as she wished. He kept this to himself, feeling he'd said enough on the subject of her parents. Much as he might dislike them, he had no desire to poison a daughter against a loving mother and father. He knew the harm that could do and it was the reason he kept his former tale so objective.

"You must love it, to do it against their wishes. What about it do you enjoy so much?". Genuine curiosity, as he was no outrider.

Dante made a vague, passing reference to a different fire and Wildfire wanted to ask him about it, yet there was something about the look in his eye and the tone in his voice that stayed her tongue. Little did she know her own aunt had presumably perished in that inferno and that if her father ever discovered it, he would be grief-stricken despite the chasm between the two packs. It was probably best that she didn't ask for details.

"You mean spying?" she queried, amusement in her amber eyes. "I bet they wouldn't mind that, though I mostly just like to explore. I know about passing messages but my parents want nothing to do with the outside world, so I don't think they care about sending or receiving messages much." She shrugged a rusty red shoulder. "I do love it. I can't explain it, really. I just like getting out and seeing the world. I want to go on adventures. My Aunt Finley is supposed to go on one with me—she's an Outrider too—but we have to wait for Elwood Jr to be weaned first," she shared, unaware that Finley was one of the characters in Dante's earlier story.

"In other words, pretty much." Spying was definitely how it'd be seen if it was known to those he investigated. But it was on a much lesser level, from afar and without active malice. Still, intelligence gathering could always be turned to less friendly measures should tensions come into being.

Messages were pretty much moot for the plateau as well. He thought back to the last one he had sent, to the Caldera of all places. But it had arrived so much later than it's intended time it had been worthless. Outriding was just too inconsistent a system. Now, when he wanted news delivered, it was usually he or Lasher to do so.

Finley's mention surprised him some, but he accepted the news that she had children without any sign that he knew of her. It didn't matter anymore that once they had been friends. "Two do travel safer than one. But you seem to manage ok. Apparently there's a pack nearby that doesn't treat passerbys too well. I was on my way to check it out." A small word of warning, in case she thought to wander that way. "According to the wolf who met them, they live in the forests that way." He indicated the direction.

Dante reiterated her mother's wisdom. Wildfire knew that there was safety in numbers but—and she would likely never admit this to anyone—sometimes she actually wanted to get away from the pack altogether. She loved Redhawk Caldera and her family, yet there was so much more to the world then their little corner of it. Just because she wanted to see it didn't mean she loved them any less, though she didn't necessarily expect her family to understand. Only Finley might know how she felt but she was much more tied down lately.

His next comments piqued her interest. "Don't all packs treat passerby like, well... not well?" she asked him, inwardly laughing at her own grammar fail. In the next breath, Wildfire said, "You just said two's better than one. Want to go check it out together?"

He laughed at that, unable to help it.  "You got me there.  Though generally, not when they don't pass too close.  And this was a wolf I trust knew better." Well, trusted.  He knew Mordecai was too smart to trespass though, or to go so close as to antagonize. "They attacked him pretty harshly for simply walking by.  I'd like to see what we're dealing with."  If they decided to branch out, widen their claim and antagonize lands further, he wished to give notice to his packmates who might travel.

It was likely the Caldera too could use that information, and though he was tempted instinctually to decline, stayed the words.  Two would be safer than one, and so long as they were careful, no harm should come of it. Unusually, the idea of going alone didn't appeal as much, the ache of too much time of late spent alone soothed with another around.  Even one not of his pack - perhaps even especially.  "Alright.  I'd be pretty dumb not to take my own advice, after all."  Habitually he took point, leading in the direction he'd originally intended.  "We'll have to be careful.  Wouldn't do our packs any good to start anything with them."  He wasn't a trained and practiced outrider but he knew that much at least.

Wildfire saw no fault in the described behavior, though she said nothing more on the subject. Dante agreed to let her come along with him and she smiled at his comment. She fell into step beside him as he began to lead the way. When he said the word careful, she bobbed her smudged snout. Her heart had already started beating faster. She enjoyed opportunities to explore and even meet new people, though at the same time, it could be very nerve-wracking... especially when approaching a pack known to be dangerous.

"We'll just spy," she murmured to him, exchanging a conspiratorial glance, before deciding it was best to be quiet as they got closer to enemy territory. Hopefully it would prove a fruitful venture but an uneventful one too.

A nod of confirmation and they were off. If luck held, they would encounter no one and return with at least some new knowledge. Close enough to determine approximate territory holding and perhaps even numbers, if the wind was right.

He would take even less risk with Peregrine and Fox's daughter along. There was no harm in her accompanying him, so long as she remained unharmed as well. He shuddered to imagine the reaction of her parents, though, if he was found to have taken her to peril. Their anger would be fearsome and not something he wanted aimed at the plateau or himself anytime soon.