Wolf RPG

Heavy clouds had rolled in from the East, a thick slab of grey through which only the moon's light could be seen as a diffuse glow in the haze. Anywhere else, and Aesop might have had to stop traveling for the night. Traveling by the stars was the most reliable way Aesop knew. Their endless, wheeling dance was one with which he was intimately familiar. The sun was less reliable, her travel only one-dimensional. But memory still served as a good guide when others failed.

Aesop knew where he was. From its base, the Moonspear thrust into the sky. On a clear night, it might have been a brilliant sight. As it was, the mountain was merely a dark shadow on a dark sky. The border was marked clearly and consistently, the signs of a long-lived pack. He had cause to hope, then.

It was a gamble, coming back. He didn't know if Charon would still be here, but some sense of loyalty had made him stray back to the Wilds and back to where he had last seen the boy and his mother. He tipped his head back and howled, seeking out any wolf who knew the whereabouts of Charon.

The response was quick. Aesop appreciated that in a pack; it was a sign of a tight ship. Before he saw the Moonspear wolf but after he heard the crack of underbrush that signaled an approach, Aesop dipped into respectful submission. 

The wolf that appeared was not Charon, nor Atreyu (for whom he was very worried), but a shadow of a wolf with golden eyes. He came without aggression, merely diplomacy, which Aesop also appreciated. If he was going to get chased off, at least let it be for a good reason. "Maybe you can," Aesop rumbled, an amiable smile gracing his lips. "I'm lookin' for a kid- well, not a kid anymore- named Charon. Last time I saw him he was livin' here. Thought that, since I'm in these parts, might as well check up on old friends. So, can you help me?" He wasn't about to go gallavanting around the Wilds in search of Charon, but it would be nice to settle down somewhere he already had an acquaintance (he wasn't so bold as to call them friends, not anymore.)

It took some doing not to laugh. Alpha! he exclaimed. He wasn't surprised, Charon had been raised by Thistle Cloud and, to an extent, Ragnar. If leadership wasn't in his blood, it had been taught to him by his adoptive parents. Aesop felt proud, as though he, too, had contributed to Charon's upbringing.

Aesop was pleased when the other called for Charon. He and I were in the same pack, while back. Cute kid, he was. He had been. Aesop was interested in seeing the leader Charon had grown into.

It took a little bit for Charon to reach them after the call had sounded, but not too long — he'd been patrolling the borders, as he often had been since bringing back Lazarus' head and returning home. It wouldn't be long until Amekaze would give birth, and he wanted to make sure that the process went as good as possible. Unwanted visitors were no part of that plan, and so he made sure to keep them far away by all means necessary.

When he noted the stranger at the borders his hackles rose defensively at first, for now was no time to accept strangers into his pack, but as he drew closer to Dash and the other wolf he realised that this wolf was no stranger. It felt like a blast from the past, an odd mixture of fond memories and ugly ones in one package. Charon approached and halted a few meters away from Aesop, just looking at him and waiting for him to say what brought him here.

The wolf that appeared was... definitely Charon. There was no denying that. But he looked so startlingly different from the youth that Aesop remembered that the sight of him, changed but still the same, was a shock. The presence of scars, old wounds that marred the perfect white of him, marked him now as an adult and a warrior. (Aesop ignored the observation that Charon had grown up to be hot, because that was an inappropriate thought.)

Not a fledgling at all, Aesop commented. Charon didn't greet him, and Aesop didn't want to push it, so he played nice and answered Dash's question. If ya'll will have me, I'd like to join up.

Charon wasn't sure how to feel about Aesop returning to the pack just like that. And so close to the birth of his children, too. He looked at the both of them, Dash seeming to mirror however he felt which meant he hadn't formed much of an opinion on the 'stranger' yet. Mixed emotions rose up in his gut at the thought of Aesop. He'd been raised by him, in part, had learned some good shit and some bad shit from that guy. For that, Charon appreciated him, but how long would he stay this time? He'd gone before, so what was to say he'd stick around? Maybe he'd be gone in a week's time without a word — Charon simply couldn't rely on him. And with his children soon to be born, he needed someone he could rely on.

"What's to say you'll stay this time?" Charon couldn't help but ask. "I have pups on the way, Aesop. I need someone I can trust to be there for them. Someone who'll take their responsibility." He frowned, because he wished that he could say that Aesop was all of those things, but he knew in his heart that he was far from it. Dash had gone before, but he'd said he was going to leave, and he'd returned now. Aesop, though, he was a wildcard, and a risk that Charon would've gladly taken before... But now, with pups on the way, he was not so sure.

The news that Charon had children on the way took precedence over his doubt about Aesop (though that did sting.) Shit, kid, you do? That thought warred worse with Aesop's memory of Charon than his leadership role did. It took a moment to realize his misstep. He was still in hot water, it wouldn't do well to diminunize Charon. Not a kid anymore, though. Habit, my bad.

Charon's doubts were well founded, even Aesop could accept that. I was at the Bay when I was needed, he countered, careful to watch his tone. I was more of a father to you than Ragnar ever was. Things just got... the wrong kind of heavy. He thought back to his fight with Burke, which he won by such a thin margin it hardly seemed a victory. Give me a chance, 's all I'm askin'.

A warning growl rumbled in Charon's throat as he was called a kid, and he felt rather prickly, even though he knew that this was simply Aesop's way of saying things. He didn't remember there ever being a time that he wasn't called a kid by Aesop. Yet the mention of Ragnar made him feel even more prickly — not because it wasn't true, but because you didn't just dub yourself someone's father like that and diminish their other father. Even if Thistle was the one who'd mostly raised Charon, not Ragnar, he'd still taken him in and provided for him on some level. Aesop'd taught Charon stuff, but it was different; each had played their own role.

But there was also another thing to the matter, a different thing; a core of truth of some sort, he realised. He'd never thought of Aesop as his father, and still didn't, but he was sort of like a crazy fun uncle, or whatever. He wanted his children to have that crazy fun.. great uncle, or whatever, but he also didn't want Aesop to just up and leave without notion again. "How do I know?" he asked eventually, looking at Aesop. "Why didn't you say you were leaving before? How do I know it'll be different this time?" He felt like he should run Aesop off, not give him another chance to prove himself... But he wanted so badly to believe it would be different this time.

The shadow of a wolf, the one that had arrived first, remained silent. For a moment Aesop wondered why he was still there, but the answer came to him quickly. He was backup, probably, in case Charon needed to run Aesop off. The poor guy had to have been bored, though, listening to Charon go back and forth. Aesop gave him a saucy wink, not impolite but acknowledging him.

Maybe referring to himself as a father figure was a bit much, but Aesop always liked to think himself more important than he was. Still he was aware of his shortcomings and more aware of his precarious position here. He was getting on in years, he wouldn't be able to survive a winter alone. If he wanted the security of a pack, he had to play his cards right. It was a mistake, leavin' without a word. One I don't plan on repeatin'. Can't offer you much more than my word, though, I guess. And that I give you freely, and only hope you take it on good faith. He shrugged, and prepared to run if he had to.

For a moment it seemed as though the young emperor would chase Aesop off, for he had little will to get his hopes up only to have them crushed again. He only vaguely remembered telling Aesop never to leave again the last time that they had stood here. Had it been here, or back in Stavanger Bay? He didn't even remember. He just remembered Atreyu'd been there. Yet another face from the old days who was gone now.

The moment ended very abruptly when Charon said, his tone almost as though someone else had decided for him and he was the one to bring the news without agreeing to it: "Fine, you can stay. But you'd better be there for my pups." He spoke the words as a threat, and he meant them as such — he didn't want his children to get attached to someone only to have them ripped away from them, like he had experienced so many times in his life.

In the moment before he spoke, Aesop could feel the impulsion building behind Charon like a spring compressed. Aesop prepared for an equal and opposite reaction. If Charon was getting ready to charge, then he would get ready to run. He may have been a man of questionable morals, but he wasn't about to cause a scuffle on the borders of a pack.

Tight-wound muscles relaxed at Charon's grudging acceptance. Aesop was positive he could win Charon back over, because he still thought himself one of the most charming wolves to walk the earth. Charon's threat galvanized Aesop's will. Goddamnit he would be there for those kids. And he'd be there for Charon, if ever the Alpha needed him. You're not gonna regret it, Aesop said, grinning. He was going to support the shit out of this pack.