Wolf RPG

He had given it a few days, desiring to fully gather himself before confronting Lasher once more.  He hadn't trusted his head to be level after Osprey's reveal, and aside from his discussion with Mordecai, had kept secluded.  Now it was time.  For his own sake, everything needed to be settled, and he was sure Lasher felt similarly.

He sought out the beta at his new home with the pups, hoping to find him there.  They would not speak there, however, for this was a conversation that needed to happen without any ears but their own.  Trepidation filled him at the thought of revealing his truth, but he also yearned for the moment it was done and he could once more breath easily around Lasher.  He missed the man's easy confidences, especially now.

slight powerplay..

with osprey's pregnancy stirring animosity among the pack, lasher had not thought long upon his conversation with dante. yet, as the thread of the moon-haunted man's scent wended its way into his nostrils, nervousness filled him. lifting from where he had playfully pinned casmir to the ground at the rendezvous site, and glanced briefly into the other's eyes.

with blue willow there to tend them, he was free to suggest silently a slow trek down the path leading past the site, heart thrumming wildly in his chest. he did not feel free to glance at dante -- not yet.

He walked at the other's side, glad to follow the suggestion and too avoiding laying eyes on him just yet.  Though he wished to gauge his thoughts, he also needed to gather his own courage, a thing that was rapidly failing the closer they came.

When they finally paused, he looked off for a beat, wavering.  Then, locking in, he turned to face Lasher.  He knew Lasher was aware of why he was there (how could he not be?) but explained anyway, mouth dry.  "I have an answer.  I am sorry I witheld so long, but I needed to be sure that when I came to you, it was with the truth.  Much has happened."

"I do have great affection for you, but I do not in the sense that you do for me.  At least not now."  As the words left his mouth, he despised himself for them. He could not lie, however, and as much as he wished he could give the beautiful creature before him what he wanted, he knew he could not.  At least not yet, though if after so long no, he doubted things would change.

He forced himself to look at Lasher though he wanted nothing more than to turn aside in shame.  He owed it to him to face what he had said, though his ears twisted as a result of the ache resounding in him.  

in a way he was aware; he had also wondered if dante had brought him here to discuss osprey's gravidity. yet when the silver man parted his jaws to speak, taltos' heart sank infinitesimally within him. he had not entertained the thought that dante surely was the same, and his heart beat for lasher, but it was disheartening to hear all the same. yet, as before, the alpha did not present the beta with a definite answer.

"i accept this," he said softly, swallowing past the rigid lump in his throat. but he did not linger upon the matter; he thanked dante with a long glance, and would grieve later. "osprey. her children. what will you do, dante?" taltos asked gently, murkwater eyes fixed upon his superior. 

Again, the svelte beta offered no anger or rebuke for Dante's denial, and it was this more than anything that subdued the Alpha.  He wished he could give Lasher what he desired, but for now, that was impossible.  He would not say never, though, for he knew that his own heart was a fickle and unkind thing.  It did not give affection freely or easily, even when he yearned to do so now.

The subject change was abrupt, but not unexpected, for it followed the other matter pressing on his mind.  He let out a shuddering breath, the release of pent up nerves and regret as well as a reaction to the new situation being discussed.  "I have spoken with her, but I do not know.  A part of me feels her current situation is enough of a repercussion, but I do not know if the pack will see it that way."  He did not know if Lasher saw it that way either.  "She spoke of leaving... but I asked her not to.  Now I wonder if that was selfish.  Perhaps she should go, and find the father.  I do not think it was one of the Plateau who sired them."  He thought he knew them better than that, that they would tell him were that the case.  Then again, he had thought he knew Osprey too, and she had quite effectively proven how wrong he'd been about that.

of course it was his wish that dante reciprocate in his affections, but he most assuredly would not press the issue. the decision belonged to the silver beta alone. "i agree; she is alone, and surely scared. i myself would not punish her further." then again, it could be argued that the man was possessed of a 'bleeding heart;' he did not like to mete out punishments even when warranted.


"i do not want her to leave either. she is family; she is welcome. and the pack will come to accept it. even saena, in time." he too did not believe that a man of the plateau had sired the pups; koda was promised unto kesuk, dante would have laid ownership in a heartbeat's time, had he fathered the cubs, and he himself had touched no other wolf since the birth of the little trio. "and if she is to find the man, what then? will he claim them? will he force her not to bear them, or take them from her? we are a lenient breed, dante. i think that her children will have no chance if she leaves. but then, i do not believe osprey wants them."

He was grateful that Lasher agreed, for if he had insisted on punishment, Dante would have acquiesced.  It would have been a strain on his conscience though... what little of one he felt he had left.  He was doubtful on the Saena front, for he knew the two had issues that stemmed long before this.  It was likely this would be just another blow to their relationship.  But he would not presume to know how things would turn out, for he was not close enough to the situation nor privy to the details of their exchanges.  Maybe in time what Lasher said would be true.

"Or perhaps she would find what she is looking for.  Because obviously whatever it is does not lie within our boundaries."  In his mind, she had made that abundantly clear, not only in her assumed relations with a stranger, but in the way she had spurned any attempt for aid or comfort.  A pack was supposed to be a support system.  Perhaps he felt this more strongly because, unlike most, he had not been raised by parents, but by the entire of the Obscurum group.  Families came in all shapes and sizes, and though he could not imagine her doing well trying to raise her pups on her own, he had no doubt that they would turn out fine should they be raised with the entire pack to help out.  After all, he liked to think he'd turned out alright, and his pack hadn't been nearly as giving as this one.

"I did not want to ask, but I wondered if she did not."  He would never have mentioned such a thing to Osprey, for what she did in that scope was her own business, but it would make some amount of sense in his mind.  The dangers aside, of course.  She seemed deeply unhappy at the prospect and there were ways of dealing with that proactively.  It was a practice he knew and has known some to partake of, but to ask her if she would take something to rid herself of the pups was crossing a line that he would never step over unless she offered freely.  "We may be lenient, but I hope that the rest of the pack will respect that what she is going through now is enough."  He could not imagine any of them taking matters into their own paws, but it could turn nasty if they decided to.

he felt dante's bitterness. not for the first time did he wonder what feelings the alpha harboured for osprey, if any. the man acted with the compunction and attitude befitting a leader worried about one of his subjects, but dante was not so cold and impartial that he had taken this to heart. however, he did not press for the information. it was not his to know, and especially not upon the heels of their previous conversation.

"peregrine must not know, in my opinion, though obviously we cannot stop osprey from visiting him. fox will only abuse her for a mistake that befalls many in season." he sighed; though he had made his peace with the fireflame, he loathed her views upon many things, the least of which was that of children not born into typical arrangements.

Dante emphatically agreed on keeping Peregrine out of it.  He had no reason to know, not unless things progressed.  Even then it would be completely up to Osprey when that news was sent.  "I agree.  Unless Osprey wishes he know, in which case someone can deliver the message." He doubted this, though, a sentiment that would be confirmed a short time after in his conversation with her.

Fox's reaction, as he said, might very well be biased. Dante could understand the negativity in this instance, though he felt that he and the others were more forgiving than the Caldera might be in this instance. He imagined that, were Osprey's children to compete with Fox's and not Blue's, she would not have been allowed to remain. Peregrine's sister or no. Perhaps it was a low estimation to have of the other alpha, and perhaps he was wrong, but it was his guess.

he wondered now why the key members of the plateau were departing; first peregrine himself had defected, then junior, the groomed heir. pura was worth nothing in proper society, though much as an individual, and saena's ambitions might one day cloud her judgement. and now osprey, refusing their offers of support and comfort.

"what will become of us?" he mused suddenly, a rawness to his voice not often there. tortured gaze flickered briefly to dante, but again he faced forward, and was silent.

He too had trepidation, though he did not voice his.  They had lost many, and to lose more to this was a hard blow.  Even some of those who remained were not around much, and though they were a large pack, they felt a much smaller group than they had been.  He was not sure what to do about this either.  It was as though they were once more fragmenting after things had been going so smoothly.

"We will keep doing our best, and hope it is enough," he responded firmly, though internally he wondered.  Was there more they could do?  If so, he did not have the answer.  "But I believe that we will make it through this."  He could do no differently.  At the pain he heard behind the Beta's tone, though, he felt as though he'd been struck.  And he wished more than anything else, in that moment, his answer moments ago had been able to alleviate this rather than surely increasing it.

I SUCK let's wrap this up and have a new one eh

he nodded, having nothing to say. in answer he proferred dante a wan smile and moved away somewhat. "i will continue my patrol, my friend. until we meet." with that the beta paused to see if the silver one would again speak, before setting off into the woodland shadows.

Dante nodded, accepting his departure without protest. As Lasher passed, though, he reached out to gently nudge him, a small gesture to let him know that despite the nature of this conversation, the regard that he held for him had not changed and never would.

As he went, Dante remained for a moment frozen, but after this brief pause he turned to leave. A part of him wondered if perhaps he might come to regret this moment, one of those defining forks that could have led his life in a very different direction. He did not believe completely in fate, but the choice he had just made had surely altered his course greatly from what might have been had he chosen differently.