Wolf RPG

having no intention of traveling to the newly claimed lands of the redhawk wolves, lasher nevertheless found himself in great bear wilderness. he had been tracking a lone mule deer, again, but this time his body was rife with hunger, and he intended to slay the buck as soon as he was within striking distance. the animal was lamed, but that did not keep it from evading his jaws for hours upon end.

presently, he approached the shimmering surface of an unfamilar, cold lake; gazing at his reflection had recently become a diversion of sorts for the delta, and today was no exception. his soul sought to see what it was peregrine had found wanting in him, and taltos curled himself upon the bank to contemplate the details of his dark face.

he could not fathom the depths of himself, nor did he wish to do so — he only wished to understand what shortcoming his lover had seen in him. the voice of a woman broached the cold lash of the emptiness within his soul; he turned his head against the dirt to see the face of peregrine's sister, osprey, for which his daughter was also named.

"hello," he responded, lifting himself to a seated position to offer her a halfhearted smile. she had come back into chaos; atticus might never be himself, and peregrine had abandoned them. her nieces were scattered, and pura slunk half-feral 'round the edges of the plateau. his heart mourned for her, for what she had lost, and silently he indicated that she was welcome to sit alongside him, if she was so inclined.

she came toward him, and seated herself, and his murkwater eyes traveled back to the water for a moment. osprey spoke; lasher nodded. "yes. the caldera could never be my home," he answered faintly. he would expound upon his words if she so chose, but the very memory of peregrine's voice caused him grief. presently, he looked at the woman, amused at how quite attractive the panther and his siblings were, a shared and charming trait.

"i am lasher, also called taltos. i love your brother, peregrine." he did not speak in the tense of the past, for his heart would always hold some level of deep affection for the devil, and because lasher was reluctant to relegate what they had shared to memory.

he observed osprey's reaction; of course she would be curious as to why he did not remain. "fox and i do not get along. forcing your brother to knowingly abide this, and understanding this would make him miserable, i decided to leave. i would not have been a good servant to fox."

he drew a shuddering sigh. "perhaps what i have done is selfish, but rest assured, my heart is unmeasurably broken. i would not have his own heart beat with hurt knowing that i would never bow to fox."

taltos gave a noncommittal sound as osprey spoke. "i am sorry, also, but it is my fondest wish that peregrine remain happy. i hope fox will allow him that." his voice was not without bitterness, but he bit it off; the silver woman was the panther's brother, and he would do well to respect his former devil in her presence.

"the caldera is truly beautiful," the man murmured to his companion, remembering the verdant, circular sweep of vast, unclaimed land. "have you visited yet?"

lasher chided himself quietly, for he had spoken before he knew osprey's true thoughts upon fox. however, she gave a mere, masked frown, and he did not press her for the reason. whatever she thought of the woman, her mind was her own, and he would not seek to influence her opinion with his own wounded castigations.

"south of here," taltos murmured, standing to his paws to stretch the gathered tension from his body and gesture in the direction of the distant caldera. "it is a bowl-like place, with mountains rearing and deep valleys. a fitting place for them to settle; it inspires its own sense of awe and joy."

taltos had thought he wished solitude, but in fact he did not, and at osprey's polite words, he nodded, mentally clinging to the idea that she would remain with him for a time longer. "of course," he told the woman who perhaps would have been related through mateship to him, had he eventually succumbed to the title beneath the banner of peregrine's love. "what is it you would like to know?"

perhaps osprey wanted to know the intricacies of lasher's former relationship with her brother — nothing sordid, of course, as his lips were closed upon that point — but how the panther had come to love a man.

though he had never spoken with her till this moment, lasher liked osprey immediately. her humour and perceptiveness was endearing; he warmed to the game quickly. "laughter," he murmured, watching her with shining eyes. "i would answer, 'yes, it has been quite cold, but we are well, and that is what matters.'"

she brought a welcome distraction from the pain wrought by the split from peregrine; taltos wondered if the silver woman did so intentionally, for they had been speaking of her brother's actions. yet he did not question this; he merely smiled at her, awaiting the next bit of the game.

"hmm," he rejoined, eyes dancing. "perhaps they are a new sort of rabbit. we should take care in eating them." though his humour could not quite match her own, he made a valiant effort all the same. a glance to the sky gauged the sun's position. "care to walk with me, kind gentlelady?" he purled to osprey, bowing to her elegantly as the details of their game emerged.

he stood aside, inviting her to join him, and gave a wan smile in the direction of her pretty face.

he gave her a warm smile. "along the shore here, my lady osprey!" came his joyous exclamation, and he waited for her to fall in step alongside him before continuing at a leisurely pace. "i know what peregrine has told me of your family, osprey," lasher murmured to his companion, "but i am interested in knowing your part of the story. will you always remain here, near your brother, or are your ambitions vested elsewhere?"

it was a pointed question, and more serious than their earlier rapport, but taltos was thoroughly involved in their time together, and osprey proved quite the interesting sort.

taltos nodded. fox left little room in the world she had created with peregrine, but he felt that was as she had intended. osprey spoke of wanting a family, and lasher realized she was not as young as he had first thought, though by no means was she a decrepit creature.

"the want of my own children is not something i have experienced in the past, yet as i look about me at the beauty of the land, and the miracle of life, my heart has softened in that regard." he had wanted a life with peregrine, but whatever crass demon overruled him did not deem it fitting. "have you a bachelor in mind, dear osprey?" taltos joked at length, his eyes settling on her own briefly.

lasher, not for the first time, wondered at what he had never experienced through his lack of siblings. none had been created with him, or 'born,' as was the term, but he had often mused over the changing of his life that he would have perhaps undergone with a brother or a sister alongside him.

osprey's jest caught him off-guard; taltos coloured beneath his sable fur, casting her an appraising glance through the veil cast by his lashes. "oh surely, not every woman," he rejoined. "i only seek to please," the man informed the silver wolfess softly, eyes seeking hers for a brief, affectionate moment.

he did take her words to bespeak an idealistic nature not often found among the world's denziens, and it endeared her moreso to him. "dragons. i know very little about them," he mused aloud, casting her a sly grin. the conversation again turned toward the gilded woman, and taltos nodded. "you and peregrine are very different, as i am sure you know." he knew nothing of atticus, but was sure the same sentiment applied betwixt himself and osprey.

"he can be a loving, gentle sort, but he can also be cruel, needlessly harsh. why is it that two siblings find themselves so opposite — rather, what was it that happened in your life to mold you as you are, and not him?"