I'm hoping @Crete and/or @Osprey can hop in here but anybody's welcome, really. :)
Bones felt like she'd become quite familiar with the creek, if not all its inhabitants, and now an itch arose within her, urging her to roam beyond the pack's boundaries and get a feel for her wider surroundings. Also, she was pretty sure by now that Atticus was
not amongst the creek's ranks, which meant she must go looking for him beyond its borders. She didn't mind this at all and was still very much convinced she'd find him, well,
somewhere around here.
Up and over the mountains she went, arriving a little footsore but none the worse for wear in the flatlands to the south. A sedate smile hovered on her youthful face as she approached a vast lake. As she came closer, she sped up until she was practically
flying toward the water. When she reached it, she did not slow in the least, happily crashing into the shallows with a cry that was half jubilant, half surprise at the water's shockingly cold temperature.
Soon enough, she grew used to it and she paddled around like a duck, that same stupid grin still plastered on her now dripping wet face.
Osprey was not a person to hold a grudge - it was not in her nature. But lately she felt that the disappointment in Atticus' lack of interest in her was growing and expanding. At first she had stuck to Perry's explanation that her brother had not taken well the first's alphaship and that he had needed time on his own. That had been several weeks ago! Besides she had caught his scent in the lands more than once, which meant that he was here and yet he ignored her. How could you not feel hurt about that?
It had been particularly hard to cope with it today, therefore she had left the pack lands to get "a bit of fresh air" and clear her mind. She didn't want to feel angry and didn't want to lash out on anyone. Her path led by the river to the southern parts of the valley, which she had never explored. After a while she had arrived to a lake and to her great surprise she spotted someone swimming there. It was hard to tell, what it was, from the distance, but the instinct of the hunter told her to go and find out. There could always be a chance that it was a deer.
But the surprise was even greater, when it turned out to be a young wolf. Now this one is totally out of it's mind. Osprey remarked to herself, sat down and observed the curious creature, speculating, how long it would take for it to exhaust and drown.
Thanks for joining!
When she clambered ashore a while later, her teeth chattered and she gave her pelt a great shake. It was only then that she realized she had company. With her dripping, tangled fur puffed out, she blinked at the silvery stranger. She looks like me! the youth thought and a toothy smile split her face. Damp tail waving, she began to trot toward the her larger lookalike, admiring the shock of black fur at her nape.
"Ahoy!" she called as she came closer. "Were ye watching me swim? It's not as cold as ye think," Bones said brightly, thinking of her recent encounter with Aethon. She paused, then introduced herself in a chipper voice, "Me name's Bones, short for Crossbones. Who might you be?"
While the young wolf noticed an immediate likeness between them, Osprey, who usually was a keen observer of people, did not. She was more focused on the wet and dripping fur and the temperature outside. At this rate the kid would either freeze or get a serious lung sickness. As a very young wolf she had experienced it once and only because she had tried to cross a frozen lake and fallen in.
"Ahoy to you too - sea lion," Osprey greeted the other one in a polite manner. "My name is Yerpso-Osprey - whichever you like," she shared her name and, since she was an adult wolf and this lass seemed very much like a young adolescent, she added, "don't mind me asking, but aren't you a bit too young to be running around, let alone swimming in freezing water?"
Bones blinked at the given name before it clicked. Grinning, she said, "Nice to meet you, Yerpso!" in her usual exuberant manner. "It's not frozen," she pointed out good-naturedly, "and if I have feet, I don't think I'm too young to run around," she added with a touch of well-meaning sarcasm, her tongue lolling from her mouth and her spring green eyes shining mirthfully.
"I'm from the creek. It's up and over yonder mountain," the youth revealed in the next beat. "I'm far from home 'cause I'm searching for somebody, a somebody called Atticus. Happen to know 'im or where I can find 'im?" she inquired, expecting to hear the usual no, sorry, haven't heard of him.
"All right, all right - you are a big and responsible girl. You know, what is good for you," Osprey didn't want to give the young one an impression that she was bossy. She remembered that she also had considered herself pretty much grown up by the age of 6 months and hadn't liked to be told what to do, because she knew better. However life had soon taught her that listening to your parents' or older pack mates' advice wasn't always a bad thing.
She was taken aback a little by the distance Bones had traveled to get this far, but when she heard about the reasons, she felt as if she had missed a point. What would this whelp want from Atticus? Want so bad to risk her life so foolishly? Therefore she decided not to go for an immediate answer - yes, I know him, he lives nearby - she rather decided to be vague for now.
"Why are you looking for this guy - Atticus?" she played well in pretending not to know, who he was.
Instead of an answer, Osprey asked the obvious question: Why? All too happy to tell the story (and not in the least annoyed that it was the fourth or fifth time by now), Bones replied, "He's me father! Only, he doesn't know it. Me mother laid with him and ran off in the same day, so he never knew about us—my litter mates and me," she clarified. "Skull died and Kraken disappeared and I got fed up of me wench mother, so I came here looking for Atticus." She'd somehow managed to say most of that in a single breath, so that when she finished she drew in another like a thirsty camel slurping water.
"I came all the way from the creek and Tortuga before that to find him," Bones added after a pause (and after she'd caught her wind), her wet tail slicing the air. Something told her that this she-wolf might know him, if only because she hadn't given a direct answer as quickly as the others she'd asked. Thus, she repeated, hopefully now, "Do you know of him?"
In the light of the unexpected news Osprey felt as if someone had slapped her in the face. "Fling" and "Atticus" she knew since childhood didn't belong in one sentence. However - recent events had proved that she didn't know him so well after all. It hurt that he was the only of the "fabulous four" that hadn't shared the joys of reunion. He was distant, he ignored her, he hadn't even come to say hello.
"This is unexpected," she muttered, feeling that she would feel less surprised, if Bones had announced that she was Peregrine's illegimate child. Her brother took life with ease and could have had flings and romantic relationships, before becoming a serious married man. "Are you not mistaken?" she asked, thinking for a moment that there was a chance of another Atticus existing, who was not her brother.
Bones knew it: Osprey would finally have some answers for her! The youth's heart beat began to beat fast in her chest. She didn't meant to ignore the look of surprise and hurt on her acquaintance's face, nor the fact that she muttered unhappily under her breath. She was so close to finding Atticus, she could feel it! It didn't leave room for acknowledging much of anything else.
"He's black with blue eyes!" was Bones's answer to Osprey's skepticism. "Me mother described him to me—only after I badgered it out of her," she remarked with a flash of her pale eyes. "She met and deduced him during a raid," she added, unaware that she'd bungled the word seduced. "Me mother's a strumpet." This was said with some distaste. "She ran off right after, so me father—Atticus—has no idea she got pregnant after." The thought might have crossed his mind but Cutlass had cut and run long before he'd had the chance to say or do anything about the possibility. And maybe he'd never even thought about it at all, dismissing their tryst as nothing but a one night stand.
The description that matched her brother's appearance perfectly shattered Osprey's last hope that the adolescent had made a mistake. There weren't many black wolves with blue eyes running around, let a lone with name Atticus. When the lass called her mother a "strumpet", she frowned, because she had been taught from early on that parents and elders were to be respected. She would have never called her mom names, even thou MO had had her share of faults and could be pretty rude and vulgar.
"I might know, where to find him" she admitted, but her unwillingness to do so was very easy to trace. "Why do you want to meet him? What do you want?" Osprey added, wanting to be sure that this girl had thought about, what would happen after she had finally found him.
When Osprey admitted she might know where to find him, Bones gave a loud whoop and demanded, "Where?!" before catching herself and offering a sheepish smile. "I knew I'd find him here! I've always wanted to meet him!" she crowed, which at least partly answered the older female's question. "He's me father!" she added to complement the rest. Didn't she deserve a chance to meet him and didn't Atticus deserve to get to know his daughter (and the fact that he even had a daughter)?
"Can ye take me to him? Please, please?" the youngster begged smilingly, hopping to and fro in her excitement. "Or tell me where to find him?" she added. Osprey seemed a little wary of the whole subject and, noticing this, Bones elaborated on her earlier, jabbering excitement. "All I want from him is to know him!" She wasn't quite sure what else she could want from him but she would do anything to placate Osprey's curiosity and better her chances of being taken to see Atticus at long last.
Osprey didn't know exactly, how to react to the news that she was an aunt to an exuberant and naive young wolf. The news had come as a surprise to her and were hard to comprehend. Therefore she decided that she wouldn't tell why and how she knew Atticus. As much as she was a family oriented wolf she was not quite ready to acknowledge this lass as a member of it.
Part of her wanted to spoil the kid's fun by saying that the only thing she would get from her father would be heartbreak. That it was better to run, while she could, and never seek him out again. But no matter, how hurt she was by her brother's recent treatment (or lack of), she knew very well, that if she turned her back on this girl now, it would be hard for her to live with.
"He lives in a pack not too far away - Blacktail deer plateau," Osprey said and beckoned to the barely visible line of tress at the horizon. "However, you might not find him there, because he has been more absent than present lately," she finished.
Thanks for the thread and sorry about the hasty exit. I'd love another sometime. :)
Osprey pointed to a slope in the distance, referring to it as Blacktail Deer Plateau. Bones scarcely heard the following remark, as her heart was already running away toward this distant destination. In fact, she began to trot in that direction, only to catch herself and make an about-face, her eyes locking with Osprey's.
"Avast, I must go there!" she declared. "Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you, Osprey-Yerpso!" she added vehemently. It would seem Osprey did not intend to accompany her there, yet Bones hardly held this against her. She was very grateful that Osprey had imparted this information. "I owe ye!" she announced, unaware the entire time that she was speaking to her biological aunt.
Bones gave Osprey a salute by ducking her head, touching her paw against her brow and then waving it in the silver female's direction. Then, simply too excited to resist, she broke into a gallop, her silvered face pointing directly at the slab of flattened rock rising up into the sky ahead of her.
Osprey was spared from any need to accompany the girl to the Plateu and look for her wayward brother, because she had no desire to meet him right now. Hurt feelings were very hard to overcome especially, if the reason was a person you had loved and cared for. Still did in a certain way, otherwise the pain wouldn't be so acute.
She nodded to girl's excited exclaims and watched her, as she ran further away, until only a moving, black dot was visible in the distance. I hope that you will not get hurt. Osprey sighed and wished that Bones would never know the feeling of hurt and betrayal like she did.