Wolf RPG

It felt really strange standing upon the borders of Donnelaith. He had been close to this pack last when Osprey was in heat, and as he passed towards the Sentinels and crossed that place he felt a strange churning in his stomach. Even moreso because it reminded him of what had transpired between Lazarus and Amekaze, and because he had been so driven by hormones that were long gone now. Yet after that day they had reconciled at Moonspear's borders and Osprey had extended an invitation.

With his own children on the way, Charon figured now was the time to visit Osprey before he would be busy taking care of his pups. Besides, he ought to warn her of Lazarus, and he would also look for Lazarus as he scouted this area out. Yet of yet there was no sign of him. Perhaps his crumpled body still lay somewhere at the bottom of a mountain, or perhaps he had made a lucky escape and was long gone now. But there was always the chance that he was still around, and if he was, Charon would find him.

For now he stood upon the Sentinels' borders and he howled for @Osprey , hoping it would be her and not @Dante that would find him first. His face, nose and left cheek and ear in particular, still held the tatters and scabs of the wounds Lazarus had caused before he ultimately dropped down the mountain, a sore reminder of what he had inflicted upon Charon's tattered heart.

Now that the children were almost three months old, Osprey was more keen than ever to teach them the basics of hunting and scavenging. The herds had returned, so had the green, everything looked promising, but being the old and experienced wolf she was, she was not going to take any chances. Things could change in a matter of a day and the sooner her brood was able to stand on their own feet and be independent, the better their odds were at surviving. 

Though all of them were pretty good and driven, little Sarah in particular had more drive. Therefore, when Osprey, having heard the familiar call, left the current "camping area" and headed for the borders, she was first to follow her. Wraen and @Terance were left behind, yet they could join her at any moment, since they were not far off. With Sarah at her heels, the elder went to greet her friend, her happy gaze darkened only, when she saw the new scars on Charon's body. 

"Now you look like you have been tickling sleeping dragons," she said for a greeting, regarding him with a broad, sincere smile. Sarah had though it was safer to hide herself behind her mom, her silver eyes peeking curiously at the stranger around mother's right hind leg.

The first thing he noticed at Osprey's approach was the girl that was trailing behind her. There was a shimmer in his eyes that could almost be described as blissful. He could imagine his own children like that, small, fragile, following him and Ame around everywhere... He turned his gaze to Osprey with a fond smile, though he noticed that hers was marred by the gruesome appearance of his face.

At first he thought that Osprey meant the pack that his sister lead, but then he realised she must mean actual dragons. He smiled sadly. "If only the story was that heroic..." He remembered when he had first told Osprey about his parents' death. He wondered if he could tell her about Ame and the pain it caused him in the same way.

"I'm -- we're expecting, too..." he said, but there was a shimmer of emotion in his eyes that betrayed the pain; he didn't even know if he was their real father.

He swallowed dryly and as he blinked a single tear dropped down his face. Instead if furthering the conversation he cast Osprey an apologetic glance as he turned towards the little girl and said, "So who's this little princess?"

"Tell me all about it and I will be sure to put a hex on anyone, who dared to scar you handsome face," as long as it is not my own husband, Osprey added mentally, while she regarded her friend with a sly grin. Not that she was really going out and do such a thing - she was weakened by famine and the children, who still required milk, had done the rest. Smart words and compassion was the only way she could comfort her friend and his wounded pride. 

"Are you?" she was a little surprised, forgetting that Charon was a grown up man now and not the small and adorable pup she had met all that time ago. "That is amazing... ?" she let the question hang in the air, because she had noticed that something was not entirely right. Had this bold guy got cold feet in the presence of a great responsibility?

"Why doesn't this one introduce herself?" Osprey met her daughter's shy gaze and stepped aside. "This is uncle Charon," she told her. "Tell him your name."

Where Terance was more talkative and Wraen more vocal, Sarah was of the quiet and observant kind. The days, when she had been wailing for every single thing that she did not like, were long over. Now with the ability to do more on her own, she had become less reliant on others. 

Only recently had she started to make friends and acquaintances among other pack members and it did not come easy, because she was painfully shy and awkward. Therefore now, when Osprey stepped aside and let all of the spotlight shine on her, she stared at the other wolf's feet for a long time, murmured a barely comprehensible "Sara"  and then moved to hide between her mother's legs, peeking at the stranger from under Osprey's chest. 

She was curious - yes, yet not brave enough to face this man alone.

It was hard to talk about these things in the presence of a little one, he realised. He felt like he wanted to just burst into a million tears and tell Osprey everything. He remembered when he had told her all the horrible things that'd happened to her family. She had always been a great listener. He wanted to tell her about Lazarus and the things he had done to Amekaze and how he resented her for letting it happen. He didn't want to hate his own mate, but somehow it had happened; whenever he laid eyes upon her he felt the mixture of hatred, nausea and a love that was all bent and torn, and he wasn't sure he could right it.

Just thinking about it made him just nod numbly at Osprey's words. "I can't..." He swallowed dryly as he looked at her with shimmering eyes. "I want to, I just... I'm not sure it's appropriate — if I can tell you in front of..." He smiled weakly at Sarah as she introduced herself, filling in the blank of his words without even realising that was what she was doing.

He chuckled at her behaviour, the way she ducked to hide between Osprey's legs, still a little scared. He had never been a very scared child, but he remembered that Levi would do the same, except he'd hide behind Charon. "Nice to meet you, Sarah. I'm Charon, a friend of your mom's. She knew me when I was almost as little as you are now." He felt a little calmer talking to the pup. He knew he'd be a great father, and he was looking forward to meeting his children... But what if they looked like him?

"Oh... then you can share that later," Osprey nodded. She was not yet ready to send Sarah away - after all it was a great opportunity for her to socialize more and perhaps gain a new friend in the future. Yet she would make sure not to let Charon go before he had told in detail, what exactly burdened his heart. She might not be able to make it right, but sometimes just listening could help. 

"Don't listen to him, Sarah," the proud mom, leaned down to nuzzle the crown of the girl's head lovingly. "He was born grown up already." She then gave a playful glance at the tall young man that was standing before her. "We have been learning the basics of hunting," she then told, having an idea of, how to busy her offspring, while adults talked about adult stuff. "Keep your muzzle to the ground and let's find a mouse for the princess," she told Charon, leading the way.

Sarah looked at the stranger with wide eyes, while he introduced himself. Many of the things he had said were lost to her, yet the name stuck. Charon. A friend. This was good then, right? She looked up at her mom from below for an approval. Though she did not look straight down at her, the easy atmosphere around them was enough to understand the the assumption had been a correct one. 

When mom mentioned hunting, her eyes lit up - shyness was all but forgotten in the light of playing a familiar game. She stepped out from the hiding spot with her tail wagging and she stretched, ready to go and do stuff.

Charon wasn't sure what Osprey meant when she said he was born grown up, but he didn't contest it negatively. Sarah remained rather quiet as Osprey suggested going hunting with her daughter. "That sounds like fun." He followed Osprey and her daughter, moving his nose to the ground in hunting position while he tried to pick up a scent trail.

"Do you like playing adventure games?" he asked Sarah as they walked to look for some prey, as while he was interested enough to hunt he was even more interested in just spending time, chatting and playing games with little Sarah.

Osprey felt glad that her suggestion was received with excitement and it was good to see Sarah open up a little. Though she was still very young and small and had seen little of the world around her, her shyness around other people was more pronounced than it was in Terance and Wraen - the first ploughing through the world bravely and the second simply loving everyone she met along the way. There was a room to grow, yet... what if this got worse over time?

Anyway - she kept three steps ahead of Sarah and Charon - being just near enough for the comfort, but otherwise pushing her daughter to deal with the situation on her own.

Sarah did not have either patience or skill necessary for tracking, therefore she relied more on her eyes and ears. It was much more interesting to watch, what was Osprey doing and where was she going. Occasionally she too would put her nose to the ground and sniff, but she knew already that no matter her feeble efforts, her mother would be the first to find something. 

It was at one of those brief stops she had taken to squat and pee - her mother had gone ahead and she was left with the Charon guy a little behind. He asked about playing adventures. She did not understand, what he meant by it, and therefore stood there in confused silence, staring at her dusty paws and wishing very hard for the first time that Terance was here to speak for her. He was good with words. But he was not and she was too proud to call for him. "Not with adventurs... just Wraen and Ter...terance," she mumbled, shot an embarrassed glance at the wolf and then padded after her mother.

It looked like she either didn't understand what he was saying, or she was just really shy. He frowned a little, but then she mumbled something. He guessed the names she mentioned were her siblings. "Oh, that must be fun. I loved to play with my brother when I was your age. I'd always be looking for adventures." He then followed Sarah to catch up with Osprey.

As he made his way towards Osprey he looked at her inquisitively, curious if she had yet found anything to hunt. He had been paying more attention to little Sarah than picking up any trails himself.

Osprey had not found any small rodent for her daughter to play with. She had something better. First she had heard them and then the source had come in sight. There - carefully hidden by grass and moss was a small pond, full with a brownish-green water. And as they approached the area, the voices of the croaking frogs grew louder. 

"Come on!" she called over her shoulder to the two that had lingered behind for some reason, while she herself walked right to the edge of the pond and leaned down to test it's depth with her forepaw.

"Uh... oh..." Sarah replied not knowing really, what was she expected to say now. It would have been a lot easier, if he pretended not to see her, then it wouldn't be so hard to deal with the overwhelming awkwardness she felt in his company. 

Osprey's call to join her came as a rescue signal - the little girl forgot her shyness for time being and speeded up to see, what had been found. Once there, she walked to stop right besides her mom and peered down at the water, then turned to gaze at her mom. "What are you doing?" she asked curiously.

It looked like he wasn't hitting it off right away with Osprey's daughter, and Charon wondered if he was doing anything wrong. Then he just decided that she was probably just shy and awkward, like Levi had been when they were young. He'd be scared of all sort of folks that were totally cool. Except little Sarah had her mommy to protect her. "C'mon, let's go to your mom to see what she's found," said Charon when Osprey called out to them and he followed Sarah towards where Osprey was.

Osprey had found a murky pond, it seemed, and while Charon was no fan of murky waters because of his light pelt, he would go in there if it'd help Sarah and Osprey. He tested the waters with a paw as well while he shot Osprey an inquiring glance.

"Wait and see," Osprey told her daughter, then cast a funny glance at Charon, who, though had stepped forwards to test the waters, did not seem an overly thrilled about the prospect. Was her brave knight-friend really afraid of getting some dirt on him? As for her - she did not have any such prejudices - and to prove her point, she slid in the pond. There she stood belly-deep in the murky water. 

She wasted no time and after a bit of splashing and getting water in her nose, she was holding a squirming frog by it's foot in her mouth. The following order of actions would have been jumping out, shaking her coat and giving the hunting item to her daughter, had the elder not be distracted by the sound of Terance's voice. "Hey, little prince!" she said and therefore her prey was lucky this time and it swam hastily away.

Sarah was happy to have an excuse of not continuing the conversation with Charon and therefore focused her attention entirely on, what Osprey was doing. She did as the adults did and dipped one of her paws also in the water, but it was cold and unpleasant, therefore she withdraw her foot quickly and shook it. 

Her eyes lit up, when her mom caught something, and her tail begann to wag excitedly. Hunting so far had been her favorite game and she was looking forward to do it again. Terance chose the right moment to appear and therefore the opportunity for the game was wasted. She turned around to greet her brother with a cold-stare, scolding him for his lack of tact, when it came to choosing the right timing.

Charon begrudgingly followed Osprey into the murky waters, figuring he'd have to do this kind of shit for his children as well all the time, so better just get used to it. Osprey was quick to catch a frog but they were distracted by the appearance of, presumably, yet another of Osprey's children.

"Hey bud!" Charon called out and he saw the frog fly past, off to freedom. He managed to grab its leg while Osprey made her way to the shoreline and, after making his way out of the water, muffled through gritted teeth, the frog squirming and squealing in his mouth, "Hggoh wuhn!" Then looked at Osprey inquisitively a moment before setting it down for the kids.

"You are my valiant knight," Osprey told Charon, lightly bumping her hip against his. And then moved forward to nuzzle Terance's forehead. Soon there would come time, when her son would think that this kind of affection was not "manly enough" to receive. 

"Charon - Terance," she introduced. "Terance - this is Charon an old friend of mine," she told him. "And you remember the hunting game you were taught the other day, don't you? Be good kids and catch that frog," she beckoned to the small amphibian that her friend had set down and then stepped aside, giving the kids freedom to play, while adults would have a little time for a chat.

Sarah needed not to be told twice - from the moment Charon had jumped out of the pond with the frog between his jaws, her eyes had been fixed on the creature. And, when it was let go, she pounced at it imediately. Yet she had not taken in account the fact that the amphibian was still very much alive and was dead set of staying that way too. It made a fantastic leap out of the girl's grasp and then away towards the forest.  The girl went after it, not wanting to give Terance a chance to better her.

Charon chuckled at Osprey's comment after setting down the frog. It looked like it was dead at first, but as soon as Sarah went after it it started to hop away. "Nice to meet you, bud," Charon said as he was introduced to Terance, smiling at the boy. He hoped that his own children would be like this, too; polite and kind to strangers, and eager to play. Well, maybe a little less pussy than Sarah was.

Enjoying their company, it was almost a little quiet when they followed the hopping from out of earshot. Charon watched the kids as they played in the distance, but he didn't breach any new subjects; he wasn't too comfortable doing so, and saying the first words were always the hardest.

Osprey did not have to tell them twice - they were off in a whizz and she watched their competition with amused gaze, wondering, what would come out of it, when they aged. Would they still be that highly competetive or become good friends and best allies. Looking back at her days at Flightless Falcons and the myriad of relationships between different siblings - a definite outcome was impossible to guess.

"So, viking," she turned to Charon. "Pour your heart out over a lunch that has not yet beeen delivered," she beckoned to the two, who were still trying to ambush the sneaky amphibian. "And I won't take a "no" for an answer!"