Heron Lake Plateau spare dad

Eljay didn't like being away from @Wildfire for too long in these days, as the pregnancy was getting further and further. She was clearly getting close now, and he wanted to be there every second of every moment of every day to make sure she stayed healthy. But he also realised she needed some time alone and away from his fussing sometimes, maybe, and so Eljay ended up taking off alone that day. He still hated crossing into neutral territories, all matter of accidents zipping through his brain film as he crossed the wilds and nothing particularly happened there.

With a breath of relief Eljay reached the Redhawks territory. Once there he howled for whoever wanted to come greet him, but mostly for @Owen, @Vasa, @Phoebe and @Kite, his OG kids. They'd made him want to be a father in the first place. He remembered that time he and Owen had looked at the stars too well, and the weird feelings it had unlocked in him -- he had first realised that day he wanted to be a dad too, because he felt a little like a spare dad to them. He really missed them all and wanted to let them know about the relationship and puppy status between himself and Wiffle.

I didn't miss the thread this time, aw ye.

Vasa had been sort of patrolling, sort of hunting, but mostly just wasting some time before she went to go find someone to pester.  The thinning snow meant there were a few more interesting things around now that they weren't buried... (Hey Owen, see, Dad wasn't lying!)  But honestly, it still wasn't quite enough for her.  She was far too inquisitive for her own good.  Eljay's howl was a welcome distraction, so she veered on over that way.  It had certainly been a while since she'd seen him, but it wasn't like she'd gone out of her way to make that happen.  Oops?

She was totally being too cool for school today, swaggering on over to say hi -- okay, not hi, but, Yo. Whassup?  Because that was how she was feeling right now, and if a teen-equivalent didn't go through multiple weird phases trying to figure out who they actually were, there was probably something wrong.  Just get the girl some sunglasses, she could totally rock it.

It was Vasa who showed up first, and Eljay smiled broadly as she came into view. He wasn't too sure how all of them felt about his leaving -- well, really felt, anyway -- so he was glad that she came and that she greeted him with... Well, he wasn't entirely sure what the intent was, but he was pretty sure it was positive in some way or other. Eljay smiled softly and he reached out to lovingly nuzzle Vasa's cheek when she approached and greeted him.

Yo -- I mean hi, he said, feeling a little sheepish that he'd subconsciously copied the greeting. How is everything here at the plateau? he asked, trying to sound casual and hide his glee at the news he was going to share. He just didn't want to blurt out and say things that were all about him right off the bat; he did genuinely want to know how the plateau was, too. How the pups were, how Raven was...

Owen moved in at a more conservative pace, skirting the edges of the dying snowbanks that he still thought might rise up and return, noting with cocked head the presence of Vasa as he entered at a different tangent and a more cautious half-trot. That had sounded like Eljay, but it had been long enough that Owen felt he had cause to doubt his own ears— Oh, it is you...! he said, a bit startled to find his hopefulness had actually been borne out.

He remained a bit reserved however, with not quite the old enthusiasm in his voice as he said, Hi Eljay. Wow. Um. You're back, as he wondered to himself, for good? He doubted it, but at the same time...it didn't seem quite impossible. Maybe something had happened over at their sister pack and Eljay had changed his mind. Uh. ...Not a lot going on at the Plateau I guess...same old same old?

The young boy couldn't seem to quite settle, his paws restlessly curvetting about first this way and then that whilst keeping a careful radius between him and his old puppysitter. All sorts of strange smells Eljay brought back with him; in Owen's mind it was almost like the guy had vanished overseas and returned a full-blown foreigner. Though he still looked pretty much the same as always. Owen halted and stared at Eljay for a moment, one forepaw moving in a solid step closer and then halting again. Some part of him wanted to go running up to Eljay in a flying takle-hug just as he would have in old times—but the rest of him, he wasn't quite so sure. He glanced over at his much more confidently strutting and welcomingly-nosed-at sister for a bit of a clue, though his own comfort zone at the moment obviously remained a lot more constricted. Uh... h-h-how's Firebirds? If Vasa was the swaggering cool kid in the sunglasses, Owen was obviously the awkward nerd in the corner who was still figuring out how this whole "social" business worked. Suave, he was not.

Looking over thread dates, yeah, at that particular instant it wasn't super exciting.  She'd started to respond when Owen showed up, totally derailing whatever thought she'd been about to blurt out.  Brothers were totally weird, man.  At Owen's uncertainty (or obvious statement, take your pick) she gave him a very obviously translated "well, duh" sort of look.  

It was probably a good thing he'd arrived as a convenient distraction because then she couldn't go and claim Eljay's affection was cramping her style.  After all, she was totally cool.  She wasn't sure being anything other than aloof was cool -- it was that whole mystery and intrigue thing that made things cool, right?  Okay, so yeah Eljay was living on a nearby moon or something, but Owen didn't have to act like he'd turned into an alien or something in his absence.  Oweeeen.  Quit being weird for like five seconds.  She tried to wave him over with a pointed nod of her head.  He'd already gone and answered and asked a new question, so at least he should get in on this too.

Eljay's face lit up even further when Owen appeared. Maybe it was because Owen was awkward, like Eljay, or maybe it was because of all the pups, Owen had treated Eljay the most like a big brother or a spare father than any of the others; but somehow, they'd always been the closest. Eljay's tail wagged happily even though Owen's greeting was a little half-hearted and seemingly surprised. Why would he be surprised to see Eljay visit? He'd promised, hadn't he? Of course I'm back. I promised to visit, didn't I? Eljay said with a soft smile. He hoped that the pups would make the visit the other way around too, if they could manage with their duties here at the Plateau. He'd love for them to meet his pups at some point, once they were born.

Not much was going on at the Plateau it seemed. How's your mother? Eljay asked, curious to see how Raven was doing. Owen asked awkwardly how Firebirds were doing and Eljay wondered if Owen was still sad about Eljay's departure. I mean, Eljay himself was still sad about it, but in the end it turned out that following his heart on that one had been a good thing for him.

Vasa told Owen to stop being weird, and Eljay interjected: Owen's not weird. Just... Uh... Different. Eljay smiled at both of them, and then decided he could no longer contain the big news: Wiffl-- uhm, Wildfire and I became mates, and we're expecting puppies soon. He just hoped Owen wouldn't think he was trying to replace him and his siblings. Eljay really hoped that they would come visit their little... whatever they would be to one another.

And it took Vasa like all of five seconds to start throwing shade in his direction. Of course. He managed to mostly ignore the first look she shot him, keeping his eyes fixed on Eljay, but when she starting whining about how wwweeeiiiird he was being and insistently motioning him over with his head he couldn't help but wrinkle up his nose and make faces at her right back. Sisters, man. How had Owen ever lived with them and their attitudes, forrealz.

Despite his reluctance though, between quietly growing curiosity and his pushy sister's demands Owen did take a few halting steps closer, turning his green eyes to scan Eljay's face searchingly. He wasn't even quite sure what he was looking for, only that he really wished he was seeing...something. His old puppysitter looked pretty happy to see Owen again, at least; the younger boy's lips curved up into a tentative smile and his tail started in with a small but brave wag of acknowledgement. Though he wasn't quite sure how he felt about Eljay's "defense" of him...was "different" really any much different or better than "weird" after all? Owen wasn't entirely sure, especially with how suspiciously euphemistically it struck his ears...but Owen did appreciate Eljay's trying, in any case. Owen lost plenty of word battles with his own sisters all the time, at any rate, and thought he maybe knew how Eljay felt on that front, at least a little.

Owen was quite thoroughly distracted from any mental debates over word choice very shortly however. The wavering smile evaporated off his face and his tail froze crookedly in mid-wag. Oh. Owen frantically searched the sudden hollowness inside him for some sort of clue as to how he was supposed to take this. (Eljay was right to be paranoid. ...Maybe it was catching now from Owen, who knew.) He swallowed hard and tried to do what he thought was the Socially Appropriate Thing, regardless of what he felt. You... and Wildfire? Uh...congratulations. Right? That's a good thing? It really did feel like too much to deal with, all at once... puppies. Eljay was going to have his own puppies, what—and soon. When? I mean... H-h-how soon? You're expecting...great, I mean. That's...great. At some point Owen's forepaws had of their own accord somehow managed a fumbling step or two back. His ears were tilted back at a hesitant angle and his eyes were big as he forced himself to keep looking at Eljay, and to summon up a sickly little grin rather than turn and run away from all these terrible feelings, homg.

S'all fine and stuff, she said.  Unable to really think of something that'd be out of the ordinary.  Of course their mom was fine.  And of course being teen-ish of age she was totally gonna be all wordy and descriptive... Yeah, no.  Dredging a few extra words out of her was hard if she didn't want to share them.

But stuff kept moving right along, as conversations did.  And she was certainly old enough to brush off advice if she didn't want it.  No tricking her into believing something silly!  Nah. He's definitely weird, she piped up with certainty.  There was no way Owen was anything but weird.

And then Eljay kept talking and sort of killed whatever progress she'd made guilt-tripping her bro.  Eh?  What?  She was more confused as to why he'd want to than anything else.  Then again, the fact that Wildfire had like a billion kids from the sound of it and Eljay didn't thus he was totally way younger, right?

Okay, combine that with the fact she probably still didn't have any interest in kids at this point and her only real experience dealing with boys close to her own age was her brother (ew, of course), she didn't see really why anyone would want to be anything but a free spirit.  Rest assured, if he told them stories, she was most into the ones that were about grand adventures than any others.  But then you gotta like.. stay.  Which was totally also a gripe she had about her own parents -- she wanted adventure!  Not to be told outside was kinda dangerous at times and stuff wasn't as cool as stories.  Why would he give up being able to go on adventures whenever?  Just about everyone had been all over the place but her.

The banter was quickly drawn to the background. The way that Owen's tail stopped mid-wave broke Eljay's heart and he looked at Owen and Vasa. Vasa, too, seemed taken aback by this. Eljay's frown deepened and he instantly regretted telling them about all of this. Of course they'd be sad that he wouldn't come back. He felt guilty that he needed to leave them behind. You can visit whenever you like, he quickly interjected after Owen's awkward congratulations. I'm sure you'd be great influence on them. Kind of like a big brother and sister. He looked at Vasa and Owen almost pleadingly, hoping they would understand that he really wanted them in his life and in that of his children. He wasn't abandoning them, but life was just... well, complicated.

I know it's gotta be sudden and all, I... I'm sorry, it all just happened really fast. Eljay frowned, feeling happy about the pups and Wiffle but also guilty and sad about all of the rest and the conflict was eating him up on the inside. It was very clearly readable from his face, too, and his tail had sunk between his hind legs.

Owen was almost grateful for Vasa's repeated assertion: it meant he could turn in her direction and scrunch up his muzzle at her as she insisted that no, he was definitely, definitely weird. Sisters! Sheesh. But at least he had some idea of how to deal with those long-familiar siblings, regardless of how much of a judgy, nuisancy thorn in his side they might be sometimes. The rest of this? Eljay's news was very definitely unfamiliar territory, and Owen had next to no clue how to even start to navigate it.

Vasa helped give him a bit of a clue, though, once again, one that Owen thoughtlessly seized on with a fair bit of relief. Yeah! he said, glancing back over his shoulder at Eljay, —then you've gotta gonna stay so then why'd you come back?

...Okay, that had come out more than a little bit more accusatorily than Owen had really in his heart of hearts meant for it to. His tail had started to lift again, but once more stopped in its tracks, even as his mouth opened and hung uselessly ajar for a long, pregnant moment of his own. Shit. Shit, that really wasn't what he'd meant to say, was it? But what had he meant to say, then?! Shit! And while Owen didn't like how that had hit his ears, he also couldn't really say there was any particular part of it he could call back, either. He didn't know how Eljay could complain at all about how fast all this had happened, anyway, not when Eljay himself had been the one to so speedily disappear and now once again seemed to be choosing to upend Owen's hardwon though tenuous grasp on the whole order of the world again. It really wasn't fair, not at all!

But Owen did feel more than a little guilty nonetheless. Eljay's attempts to try and make it up to them by telling them what a great big brother and sister they could be rang hollow and lame, but Owen's attempt to limp the conversation a little further along in a different direction a long moment later wasn't much less lame, in truth: ...Will there be any boys? Gosh, that was a stupid question. Who even knew these things, anyhow?! If Eljay knew if he had any little boys he wouldn't be here, after all, now would he?! But again, Owen didn't really know what he could better replace it with. So after another uncomfortably long moment of tense inner debate he just let it be. He was having considerable trouble looking Eljay in the face at the moment however, and found himself instead staring unseeingly at the dark soil of the ground some middling distance away.

Sorry for the mega delay and not too exciting post here.  She's kinda being a twit. :P

No, she said, correcting Owen with an obvious roll of her eyes. If you have kids or whatever, then you gotta stay put and not go on adventures and that's no fun.  Mom and dad don't go anywhere -- so we don't get to either.  She swayed her weight to the other side, obviously not too impressed, but her one track mind was currently focused on stuff that was not settling down and having a family.  Could your blame her?  She didn't even have a full year to her age yet.

It was probably something of a battle to see which of the pair of them could be more immature, but they were definitely so in different ways.  Was Eljay sure that he wanted Vasa to be near his kids?  She wasn't nearly as harmless as her brother.  Other than that, she was apparently willing to just let Owen talk.  Hopefully this was gonna be a stage she grew out of, because it probably wasn't fair to anyone.

Eljay tried to process the disappointment that he was receiving, not sure how to deal with it as he just wanted everyone to be happy, really. He frowned and was about to come up with a response to Owen when Vasa tacked on more. It was a bit confusing because Eljay was pretty sure Owen had meant that he shouldn't have come back, and Vasa just sort of confirmed that (the no adventure bit, which, well, for Eljay visiting another pack was rather big of an adventure). Eljay frowned, clearly a lil' heartbroken but tried to swallow that while Owen himself tried to compose himself again. I just wanted to see how you were doing, he said, some of the sad seeping through. After all, how could he ever expect the pups to visit him if he never visited them? And 'cause I was hoping you'd visit them. And how could they know they could if he never dropped by to tell them they could? Hopefully they'd take up on the offer, though Eljay was feeling a little out of hope on that considering the negative responses.

I don't know if there'll be boys, Eljay said after a few seconds of blinking at Owen's question. But I'm sure they'll wanna play with you guys no matter what they'll be. He tried a small hopeful smile, hoping for a positive response this time.

Owen very objectively sez but twittishness is the natural state of sisters anyhow, see
which I guess could pretty much double as the tl;dr for this  >.>;

Owen frowned afresh, disturbed to have to admit to himself that his sister's arguments here made quite a bit of sense, really. When was the last time Raven or Quixote had gone off and had fun adventures, after all? Owen was pretty sure their life had been all stick-in-the-mud boringness ever since he and his sisters had come along—not that he really liked to pay more attention than he absolutely had to to all that boring grownuppy stuff anyway, but dang. (Also, he wasn't entirely certain if his parents had led such lives of boringness before puppies anyhow...maybe they were just unadventurous like that? Owen was doubtful of this line of reasoning, though. No matter how hard it was to imagine his parents as young and hip and carefree.) Mmm, he said though, not entirely wanting to give Phoebe credit for hitting upon such a good point, but also not entirely wanting to disagree. It was a pretty terrible thought, wasn't it, to envision Eljay turning into Dad. Oof. ...So Owen tried hard not to think of it, looking down at his paw as he scraped it fretfully to and fro across an errant tuft of fresh-sprung grass before looking obliquely up at Eljay again.

Owen's ears drooped a little further, though he didn't say anything to signify his guilt. Could it really have been that simple as their old puppysitter wanting to come check in on them? Or maybe, thought Owen pessimistically, Eljay just didn't trust Kite not to fall into the lake again without Eljay around to keep a close eye on her. Maybe he just didn't trust any of them. Owen squirmed internally however, and a little bit externally. I'll visit, he blurted after a few moments without really thinking it through, just to make the guilt and discomfort go away. I promise. This didn't entirely do the trick like he'd hoped, though. Owen's toes curled under a bit as he mentally stepped back to consider some of the potential ramifications of his promise. Owen wasn't really into too much adventure ideally, and he still wasn't sure how he felt deep down about the whole splintered-off pack or Eljay's leaving. But Eljay was a meaningful person in his life, and however uneasy fulfilling his promise to track his former puppysitter and all the new puppies down at some point might make Owen, the boy meant to make an honest attempt to keep it. But he did swallow hard and amend his words with a, When I can, I mean... I'll come visit. Sure. Even if inside he quailed a little extra at the idea that it could in fact be an entire litter of girls he might be expected to play nice with...horrors! Owen had had quite enough of that growing up with all his sisters, really. Gloomily he suspected the Fates might indeed be just cruel enough to play such a trick on him, though. It would be just his luck, wouldn't it. The prospect of a whole new bunch of rowdy girlpups turning him into their chewtoy was really not a very appealing one though after he felt like he had just finished surviving that nonsense with his own siblings. Never having had a proper brother, Owen had it in his head somehow that a fellow male would obviously be a lot easier and funner to deal with. Obviously.

Honestly Vasa was pretty much relying on Owen to go visit and keep people happy.  She was definitely in A Mood and wanted to do her own thing.  So promises to do that?  Ehhh.  Questionable.  Maybe she'd just wait until they weren't so much like.. Kids.  What she'd heard about the especially young sorts sounded pretty awful.  Or at least exceptionally boring.  And she definitely remembered not being allowed to do fun things as a pup.  One would assume Eljay's kids would have similar limitations.

And there was also the fact that she wasn't sure if she wanted to deal with children.  We've already been over her desire to explore.  Mmm, yeah I can maybe stop by when I'm on like an adventure or something?  She wasn't entirely sure of the distance between the two packs or anything either.  Like the logistics themselves were also kind of problematic since she tended to wander north and west rather than east towards Firebirds (the swampy bits had stopped her cold).  She liked adventure but wasn't sure she wanted to go that direction that much, after all.

Eljay smiled as Owen eventually decided to visit, promising it even. His eyes clearly lit up, and it was evident from his very demeanour that it meant a whole lot to him for Owen to make this promise. Thank you, he said with a wave of his tail. I'd love it if you visited.

Vasa then said maybe she'd stop by if she happened to be nearby, which seemed as much as he could expect from her. Eljay smiled at her too and said softly, That would be lovely.

Eljay glanced over his shoulder and sighed back at the kids. I should head out. Could you say hi to your mother for me? He'd hoped that Raven would join them here, but if her children could relay his message of "hi", then that would be good too.

For once, Owen managed to button his lip and not blurt out the first damnfool thing that came to his mind (which was, as was so common for him, gyrating wildly with various farfetched anxieties) and managed a cool nod that almost managed to come off as regally calm. ...Almost. Having puppysat bitty Owen plenty, it was pretty doubtful that Eljay of all people wouldn't be able to see right through the boy's collected demeanor to the knotted, thorny ball of fretfulness within. But that thought at least Owen managed not to dwell on. He was just glad he wasn't freaking out as much outwardly as he still kind of was inwardly. Even if he'd at least managed to avoid being pinned down to a specific time for visiting or anything like. (Owen just wished that aspect was managing to reassure him inwardly a whole lot more right now.)

His pseudo-adult poise broke rather quickly anyhow, however, as he rolled his eyes at Eljay's soft that would be lovely in response to Vasa's cagey "offer" to swing by if maybe she could spare some time from her all-important adventuring or something. Owen still had a lot of trouble imagining anyone finding a visit from his snarky sister lovely, on any level. Those poor pups, if they ended up having to put up with her! Maybe it was lucky for them, at least, that she would be in a whole other pack.

Owen caught his lip on an eyetooth for a quick instant as he saw Eljay peering back over his shoulder. Anxious to be gone and leave his former charges behind already! Well, then again, with Vasa being one of them maybe you couldn't entirely blame the guy. Owen straightened up a little and managed another dignified nod. Yeah... yeah, I'll tell her you said 'hi.' ...Since Vasa's probably gonna be too busy off 'venturing someplace or who knows what, and Owen awarded his sister another, more balatant eyeroll to her face. Nyah nyah.

Okay let's be honest, the whole situation had turned a bit weird now.  But it wouldn't have gotten too much weirder if Owen hadn't gone and pushed an extra step.  No, it would have just been a nice farewell to Eljay and they could have gone about their business.  But no.  Can't have that happen.  

Her cool smile dropped and turned sharp, her gaze swinging pointedly to her brother, her tone icy.  You can always come along!  Or anyone!  I dunno why you all just stay here and stuff, it's boring.  At least I'll be having fun instead of whining about monsters or whatever!  With a minor flash of teeth, she spun away from Owen then (and Eljay, by proxy), prowling off on her own.  Why did she even bother with him?  He was so stupid some times, ugh.  Whatever.  Go play with babies or whatever, be all adults' pet and not do anything fun ever!

She had things to do.  Better and more interesting things than Owen could imagine.

In all honesty, she'd somewhat forgotten Eljay was even there.

Thanks, Eljay said with a soft smile as he looked at Owen. Vasa then complained loudly about Owen staying back here. Eljay wanted to chime in saying it was totally fine to stay home, but then Vasa suddenly left. Eljay blinked, a little confused, and looked at Owen. It's totally fine to be a homebody, he said with a smile. It's a lot safer, too. Thanks for saying hi to your mother. I'll uhm, I'll see you soon, okay? Eljay waved his tail and moved in to nuzzle Owen's cheek before he turned 'round to head on home, his heart both full and aching.