13 hours, 47 minutes and counting.
That's how much time had gone by since the last time Finn had slept. Despite the heavy weight of exhaustion dragging down his eyelids, he could not manage to get himself to shut his eyes; because every time he did, the teasing figure of her smile returned.

48 minutes.
By now, the mushed up pile of leaves that served as a bed laid empty and cold. He had resigned to lay on the ground only to find her image popping back into his brain. She had not only taken his heart with her to the Caldera, she had also stolen his peace of mind.

Like a complete lunatic, Finn began to pace around the lonely corridors of the Plateu, only accompanied by stars and the dim moonlight.

As he began to pace around the Plateu, haunting the place with his sparkling platinum coat the notion of how many more minutes had gone by escaped from his mind completely. Now he was just walking around aimlessly, moving his legs in a mechanic manner over the Plateu's floor.

Then without noticing the black female coming his way, Finn almost tripped on her and sent her barreling to the floor. Her sharp yap was enough to bring his head back from the cloud it had been stuck in. He jerked his body brusquely and flattened his ears in an apologetic manner. The outline of the female was barely visible in the dark of the night, if it were not for the dim accentuations from the moonlight she might've as well been invisible.

Sorry, didn't see ya there he barked as he flashed a weak smile as peace offering. He then realized he had never exchanged a word with this wolf before, of course he had seem glimpses of her at the meeting but he didn't really know her name.

A simple air flick was then offered by the embarrased male, he had never fallen into the category of clumsy before, but now it seemed that he was owning it. Finally the dark coated female shrugged off their little mishap.

The male relaxed again, the little whiskers at the tip of his muzzle twitching with amusement as the female called his name. He couldn't find the name for her, she knew who she was of course, she was relative of Peregrine in some way.. oh what was it?

Yes,I'm sorry you are? he asked softly, not wanting to seem like a stuck-up douche who never looked past his own nose. My head's been all over the place lately, he tried to apologize quickly with a sheepish smile.

The Ollivander's eyes fell again onto her face, slowly making their way down the bridge of her nose and slipping past her jaw line. Now that he had a name to go along with her face he could achive it inside the messy files in his brain -- the title of 'Peregrine's somehow relative' was no longer needed.

It's my pleasure to meet you, Oss, he barked with a little dip of his nose, she held a higher spot on the totem pole and besides the sole fact of being older -- and in his opinion a bit serious looking -- was enough to make the insolent bastard son swallow any jokes and stand up straight.

It's uhh he stammered while feeling the little whiskers on his muzzle twitch and turn. He was no good when it came to speaking about feelings, but he had had to spill his predicament so many times over the past few days it simply came up as word-vomit now.

The Caldera that's what worrying me. he began, I don't even know the place and it already makes me sick to hear it's name, not because I think that the ones who left were traitors he admitted, even after knowing that speaking of them as friends would not be well seen he did so anyways,.. but because some who left were the ones I needed most he finished soflty. Fox was a good friend and Fin was well.. she was his literal other half.

There was no stalling in the female's approach, she went in for the kill, twisting the cords around the man's neck with the same question he had asked himself every day now.
Why had he stayed?
Aside from Dante, he had no other ties to the Plateu. He barely knew the other wolves running around the pack, and honestly he wouldn't bother to get to know them. They were all faces with no names that in his world meant nothing but empty air.

The Caldera, on the other hand, didn't only hold captive the woman he dreamed of, but was basically made up of old friends or former packmates. If it were pointed to him that way the obvious choice would be the Caldera. But then, why hadn't it been obvious when the time to decide was laid out in front of him?

Had he miscalculated the pro's and con's of running of into the horizon with the Caldera wolves. Had he been blinded to his look-alike's offer by Peregrine's petty excuses? What argument had weighed more in his mind when the time to make a decision arrived?

I-I don't trust Peregrine and his promised land he managed to muster, it was a lame excuse that would never be able to make up for the discomfort that his decision had brought on him but it was partly true. The black male's 'emotive' speech had not reached the Ollivander's young heart, if anything it had only managed to make the young silver male scoff with incredulity.

Besides if something wasn't broken why replace it with something new?
Was this logic still valid, when the thing you tried to hold on to was now breaking you?

After his the words were pronounced, a little buzz went on inside his head. He hadn't realized that maybe admitting to his waryness towards Perergine's judgement was npt the best thing to say to his very own sister after you've just met her. He expected her to defend him or simply frown -- even if she had chosen to stay too it didn't mean she had stopped being his sister.

Surprisingly, and quite thankfully the female didn't make a big deal out of it, maybe she hadn't followed because she had been skeptical too. His lips curled into a weak smile when she tried to get into his point of view, Not at all, he confessed with a certain ring of melancholy hanging from his voice.

He hated being placed in that position, where he was naked to another's eyes, he was so used to hiding under his armor that doing something different was scary to him. For a brief moment of awkward shuffling, he looked up at the female once more, his eyes curiously peeking at her now that she made the offer to help him, even if his vulnerability.

Advice, if you have some.. he croaked weakly, not knowing whether she'd be actually willing to share her wisdom or if she was asking just to follow proper ettiquete.

For the briefest moment Finn got the urge to call it all off, to tell her he was fine and simply forget it all. Force himself to forget it all. The Caldera, the distance, Peregrine, Fox, Dante and of course her. But it wasn't that simple, it wasn't as if he could simply drop everything and go back to where he had come from.

The leaders of his birth pack had been explicit when telling him he couldn't show his face there again. He had nothing better there anyways, as much as he hated to think of it, it was more than likely that his mother's clock had already ticked off -- or it was about to.

He listened intently to the female's words, commiting every syllable to memory and analyzing each word in his brain. He liked to hope she would give clearer instructions and tell him exactly what to do, but of course she didn't. She wasn't a map, or an intruction booklet to tell him what steps to take. That was solely up to him.

For once, Finn Ollivander understood that running was not the answer.
Yet it was all he knew.

I want her he mumbled numbly, while furrowing his brows and biting his lower lip in deep realization. Regardless of the place, he wanted her. On the moon or underground where his heart could not beat, he wanted her.

Though the lovestruck silver male was not the best to decipher the code he had managed to grasp the general idea the dark coated female wanted to get into his thick skull. If he had been able to see the scene playing in her mind he would've assured her he had no intent of hurting her brother or challenging him the Caldera -- unless of course he tried to oppose to his feelings.

Like he had accepted the male's strange love triangle at the time, the least he expected from the man was for him to do the same. Besides, Finn held no interest for the Caldera, aside from being his look-alike's home it meant nothing to the platinum Ollivander.

Osprey, I'm glad I've met you -- thank you he barked, flashing a heartfelt smile at her direction. If she'd allow it he'd reach her shoulder with his nose, a sign or extreme gratitude towards the female that had with just a few sentences rekindled the fire inside his chest.

Finn's coal black nose brushed against her cheek, a hushed 'thank-you' slipping from his lips as their faces stood near one another. He was insanely grateful for the support and advise he had recieved, not from one -- but three of his fellow packmates.

Though telling his predicament to three different wolves had not made his waryness about sharing feelings slip away he had at least learned that there was nothing wrong with asking sometimes. In the end, the other's opinions were objective and helped to see the issue from another perspective. Now if he could only get his runaway stunt double to see the whole situation that had developed after her departure perhaps it could all come to an end faster.


Again -- a thousand thank-you's for you Oss he barked, this time in a more affectionate and grateful voice. Then with a final smile and a brief dip of his muzzle he turned, leaving the female to carry on with whatever she was doing before turning into his shrink.