Moonspear Don't mind me

@Charon Privat-ish, I wouldn't mind cameos! Set after this thread

It had not really been a secret that Vela had been away a lot from the pack compared to how much of a homebound body she was before. After her travels with her father to Stavanger Bay and then her solo trip with Jarilo to the Hinterlands she had instantly left to meet Veeri again. Vela knew it wasn't the female's real name but she couldn't help but keep thinking about the female constantly.

Vela was completely smitten and swooning quite badly after she returned from the hot springs. Her coat scented of the female and sulfur. Vela had tried to be as close to the other as possible and to impress her. Now that she had to say her goodbyes once more she was longing to when she would see the female again. She had never felt this for anyone. Hanging out with her was always exciting since she knew so much about traveling. Perhaps also because she knew that Veeri had not a good relationship with her father which made it all very secret and exciting.

Vela came close to the borders and quickly sneaked back into her home. She felt like a teenager creeping into the house after a night out and missing curfew. She had met up with someone secret, someone that her pack disapproved off. So Vela felt keen to keep her return a bit vague especially with the female's scent in her coat.

It hadn't escaped Charon's attention that Vela had been gone much lately. Even before his own trips to search for Revui he had missed her around the pack lands and he wondered what was up with her. Charon himself had only just returned to the lands after his most recent search mission for his son when he happened to run into Vela just across the borders.

There was a stern look on his face -- he didn't consciously realise it was there, though -- as he wondered out loud: Where have you been? Looking for Revui and Yami? There was an implication in his tone that said you better have been because obviously finding Revui or Yami (though his hopes to finding the latter had plummeted quite deeply considering she was gone for so long) was still top priority right now. Maybe he recognised something in the sneaky way that she walked, or maybe it was just a gut feeling that made him on his toes -- or maybe he was really just frustrated with not finding his missing children so far and reacting it out on his daughter.

Vela glanced up when she heard someone approach. She could tell by the footsteps that it was her father. She instantly wagged her tail to see him, and not to be too suspicious of not wanting to greet him. Vela's mind instantly started to think of excuses when the male asked where she had been. However, only seconds after he already gave her an excuse. "Yes, of course," she fibbed and glanced over her dad.

"I traveled all the way to the hot springs but there was no sign of them there," she was not really lying as she hadn't seen her younger siblings, however, she had not actively sought for them after all. At least her scent would confirm she was indeed at the hot springs, perhaps not completely alone.

It was good to see Vela again; it had been a while since they'd had some together-time, and he had enjoyed the trip to Stavanger Bay together with Jarilo. It was unfortunate that there was a pack there again now. Vela answered that she had been looking for Revui and Yami, though she didn't mention much of her findings except for a location. The hot springs, he repeated, locking it to mind so that he knew not to look for them there. But he did smell another wolf on her, a vaguely familiar scent that reminded him of that pack to the west somewhere. He couldn't quite place it, though.

Who'd you meet there? he asked curiously. Maybe she had asked some wolves about Yami and Revui, but then again, it seemed to him that she smelled a bit too strongly of this wolf for it to have been a stranger that she'd just walked up to and had then said good-bye to. They had to have spent some time together, at least.

Vela nodded instantly when her father repeated the location. The speckled female bobbed her head several times. She didn't expect her father to smell Veeri on her. The girl ears instantly fell back. Shit shit shit. She quickly flickered them up and hid behind that confident mask. Though she was pretty sure her father had noticed. "Oh some female," she tried to sound casually.

How would her father react when she had been close with a female that was suppose to be their enemy. Then again.. could change the way her father might look at their closeness. Vela quickly constructed a plan. "She didn't tell me her name but she said she had not been good with Moonspear. That she knew it but apparently you were not friends with her. She didn't know where Revui or Yami were so we got into a bit of a scuffle. You know to defend Moonspear honor," she spoke with a firm nod. That was a bit of a lie but the scuffle would explain why she smelled more of the female that a simple hello.

'Some female' was a good description, if it weren't so casually mentioned by Vela, of all wolves. She wasn't often one to speak that way. Were it Lyra and her dreamy way of going about things Charon would've just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, but there was something about Vela's behaviour that irked him. He listened as she said that it was some female who didn't tell her name and said she'd been at odds with Moonspear. Charon's disposition changed entirely with the news of the scuffle: Vela must've been acting so casual because she didn't want him to worry about her fight with the other female -- it all made sense now.

Are you okay? Any wounds that need tending? His voice wasn't super worried, considering she looked fine and had walked fine as she got here. What happened -- did you hurt her? Then, as an afterthought: What did she look like? With a description maybe he could decipher who this wolf was.

Vela watched her father and then nodded. She felt bad for lying but she was not ready to tell him yet. She was intending to fraternize with someone openly against her father. How did this even happen? Then again, she wondered if the female was open to even fraternize with her. "No wounds," She assured her father with a quick smile. "It was more of a scuffle than a fight-fight like you and that dark headed woman had," Vela lied, surprisingly smoothly. She thought she would've more trouble with this.

"She is a grey female with tan by her sides with green eyes. She had cream and white fluff around her muzzle, under her belly and tail," Vela spoke, she instantly wondered if this had been too much detail. However, her father might be suspicious if she had not noticed the details. "No scars I could see," she added and kept her cool blue eyes at her father. She could feel her heart beat quick however. Was she finally going to hear the story?

Good, said Charon, the worry flooding from his face. He would expect Vela to be able to hold her own, but he felt that she didn't always have as realistic a view of the dangers of the world. He hoped she'd never need to.

The description didn't instantly trigger anything at first. He thought it was rather peculiar that Vela mentioned green eyes. It seemed odd that you'd know what eye colour a wolf you had only had a scuffle with and no further interaction would have. Still, he easily glossed over it and tried to rack his brain. Did she say why she was at odds with us? he wondered out loud. And what initiated your scrape with her? Surely it wasn't just the fact she and Moonspear had some sort of history that made them fight? Had Vela been rash, or had the other wolf initiated the fight? Charon tried to think of who it could be while he awaited the answer.

Vela just nodded shortly when the male seemed to approve. Of course he would, then again, she knew that this wasn't really the truth. Vela instantly shook her head. "She wouldn't tell and I didn't know that you had trouble with someone other than the woman with the face face and the Redhawks," she explained. "She said that it was best for her own safety that she wouldn't tell her name," which was the truth.

Vela desperately wanted to know her name or at least check if she already knew her true name but also know about what she could have done to her father and how much of a traitor she was for liking her. "What other enemies do we have?," she asked. "Why didn't you tell me?" Perhaps it was before her time, or even better, her father had forgotten. Though, father didn't seem the type. "Well, we had an argument over the fact that she didn't want to tell me."

Charon didn't really think they had any trouble with anyone other than the Redhawks and the newly raised problem either. He squinted his eyes as he contemplated. Only then did he think of Liffey and Rannoch's betrayal. Liffey? he said at first, blinking, as he recalled Vela's description. Grey matched for sure, but did she have tan fluff? Honestly, Charon couldn't even really remember. He just remembered being angry that they left them just before the season, just as the latest litter was on the way. They'd struggled to get by. And honestly, he got a little angry thinking about how he was apparently now still labelled some sort of enemy of theirs. He was the victim, he thought bitterly, and still they tried turning his own daughter against him by saying it wouldn't be 'safe' to hang out with some of Moonspear's vicious wolves, or whatever.

Pushing his initial anger away, Charon had another rational thought and realised suddenly: Wait, do you mean Wraen? She was grey too, and she had tan, right? (right?) But there was only one way to really know for sure, even though this was, in Charon's experience with Wraen, more of an Osprey-thing than a Wraen-thing: Does she tell lots of stories and shit? But then realised that she'd only fought with this wolf (though it seemed very un-Wraen-like to physically attack; she'd eventually ran off when Charon had tried chasing her out of the Glen -- maybe that was why Vela wasn't hurt) and he added: Wait, never mind, you obviously wouldn't know. Still, Charon felt pretty miffed that she would pretend he was some psycho killer who'd get her if he knew his daughter associated with 'the enemy'.

Vela frowned at the name Liffey. She had never heard that name in her life. Her father seemed to think deeper. There was that name again, Wraen! It had to be Wraen. What a wonderful name. The female smiled at it but quickly caught it and hid it behind a serious nod. Though she was not certain it was Wraen until her father started about the stories. That was exactly what they did! The female couldn't help but be surprised and nodding instantly. "She did---" It was out before she realized and her father corrected her that she couldn't have known.

"Well she was going on about stories before we got into a scuffle. She was tense and I wondered why. When she revealed more that she knew I was from Moonspear and she wasn't good with them, then we had a scuffle. Before I didn't know of her existence." Vela spoke and nodded once more. "Can you tell me more about her? What did she do what was so bad?"

Charon didn't notice the smile on Vela's face because he was having a think about the names and who this wolf could be himself. Vela confirmed that it might well have been Wraen and Charon nodded. Vela seemed curious to know more about Wraen. They must've been in the pack at the same time, but Vela'd been young at the time and maybe she had not fully realised. Charon suddenly realised that when she was younger, Vela had played with her imaginary friends -- Drake, Charon's friend when he was that age, and Osprey, because of Charon's stories of his friend Osprey. It would probably weird her out to find out that Wraen was Osprey's daughter.

She was a part of the pack when you were smaller, he said. She's the daughter of a good friend from my youth, who was a bit like a caretaker when I was little and told me stories a lot. Do you remember when I told you stories about Osprey, and the Lauren Drake, when you were little? You used to play with your imaginary friends for a while. There was a teasing grin on his face as he mentioned this, for he imagined she was now at an age where that wasn't her proudest moments. Well, Osprey is Wraen's mother. I'd promised her that her children were always welcome here when she left the valleys because of her old age, to find a warmer place. Imagine how happy I was to fulfil that promise when Wraen and her brother Terance showed up here.

Charon frowned as he recalled their departure. There were other wolves that we'd taken in that winter. Rannoch, a son of another friend of mine, had gotten hurt and we patched him up. His mate Liffey joined soon after. Then in the middle of the winter they both left because they wanted a family and weren't willing to prove themselves here at Moonspear. Wraen and Terance left without saying a word, followed them. There was hurt in his voice as he spoke the words. Charon had gotten angry at them when they left because it hurt him deeply. They'd all been his friends in some way, and the last remnants of Osprey and Eshe that he had had left.. And they had turned their backs on him. They'd never even returned to visit, to say sorry, or to patch things up.

Ame was pregnant with your younger siblings at the time so the timing was very poor. I haven't see them since. It must've been a year now... I only saw Wraen, once, but it was when she was hunting in the Firefly Glen and I told her off about it. She got snippy about being caught out, saying it was anyone's hunting grounds, so we got into a scuffle. Charon felt a pang in his heart as he thought of them and wished that he could still see them now. After a moment's hesitation he said, I heard she lives to the west of here now, at the Firebirds pack. I wonder what she even thinks of me today. He was angry at Wraen for not being the embodiment of Osprey's spirit that he wanted her to be (though didn't fully realise this himself) but mostly he was angry at them for not understanding why it had angered him so much that they left right in the middle of winter and Amekaze's pregnancy the year before.

It was like none of them even cared at all.

Vela's ears were pushed forward when her father started to explain. She nodded, she remembered her father talking about Osprey. She could instantly make the connection. Wraen and Maia were both very much into storytelling which made a lot of sense to her. She nodded when her father continued. She could see that her father would take them in. Until now the story didn't seem too bad.

Vela frowned when her father said that Wraen just left without saying a word. She felt that the female wasn't that type of wolf. "Do you know for sure that she followed them? I mean, she could have just left and not followed this Rannoch," Vela spoke to her father. "But I can understand that you were angry with them." They hadn't been loyal, something that had been a common theme amongst their members.

Vela inhaled softly. She had liked Wraen. But could she ever grow to trust the female knowing that she abandoned her family. She knew that the female hadn't been good with her father but she assumed it was a different issue. She didn't expect the female to leave without saying a word, until now she had kept her word to her at least. Vela shook her head. "She didn't have a smell on a pack on her. Plus she said that she was traveling," Vela spoke to her father. Shit now it might sound that she was defending her.

As Vela asked whether he knew for sure that Wraen had followed Rannoch, Charon wondered why she even cared. He nodded and explained, his patience running a little thin (a thing that showed in his voice): I've seen her later, so I know. Vela shared that she was a traveller now, apparently, without the smell of a pack on her. Well, it served them right, Charon vengefully thought, that they should break off among themselves after they had broken off from his pack. He hoped she'd left just as Liffey had become pregnant, or at the break of winter. They deserved to have that karma thrown back in their face. Hydra may have shook hands with some of them, but they had never come to Charon, and so his thoughts towards them remained malicious.

Good. I hope she left them at the worst of times, too. His voice was bitter to match the coldness he felt in his heart. All he wanted to be acknowledged, all he wanted was a sense of family and loyalty within his pack - but that had been too much to ask of them. Anyway, Wraen was always rather childish. It doesn't surprise me that she would think we still hold a grudge. A bit low, perhaps, but Vela had already had a scuffle with Wraen anyway, so it didn't hurt. Deep in his heart Charon was perhaps a little envious of the unbridled childishness and creative love for fantasy stories that both Osprey and her daughter held in theirs when he had realised he was now too old for such childish matters.

Vela listened to her father. It seemed that Wraen had been following this Rannoch. Her father still seemed bitter about this female leaving them. She had been bitter about other pack members leaving as well. "It sounds like you are still holding a grudge," she couldn't help but comment. Her father seemed pretty upset still with her. She wouldn't blame Wraen to think that her father would still be mad.

"Are you still mad at her?," Vela then questioned. If he wasn't then maybe this was all not so bad. Then she might be able to have a friendship with Wraen, or more...

As Vela said that it sounded like he still held a grudge, Charon answered, his voice sharp: They left us in the middle of your mother's last pregnancy. That should be answer enough for her — honestly, he felt as if Vela herself should maybe hold more of a grudge for those reasons. She might not have personally gotten to know these wolves but she had been there when they had betrayed Moonspear, even if she was small. It was her siblings that were endangered by their selfish actions.

As for the second question, it was more complex than that. No, he answered curtly. It's a year ago. I'm no longer angry, even if I'm disappointed that they have never seen the err of their ways back then and have come to apologise for the selfish and shitty timing of their actions then. He would not maul them should he run into them today. Mostly, Charon just figured it'd be hard to have a civil conversation with them because he doubted that they saw how much it had hurt him how they had left back then. How their words had hit him square in the face. They could not understand in all their selfish ways and so Charon was certain that they would only twist the dagger further. Therefore he did not have the urge to seek them out, either.

Vela slowly nodded and remembered that she should act more averse to the female and what she did. But Wraen had been so interesting. She nodded more strictly as her father answered her other question. It made sense. Her father was more disappointed than actually mad at them. She could understand that, since she had been disappointed about Drogon as well. "It is like Drogon did but worse," she stated.

The speckled female gave her dad another firm nod. "If I see her again I will know how to act towards her, and perhaps get an apology out of her," she stated to him. She was definitely intending on seeing the female again soon. However, with much more glee than she would let her father know. That was for sure. "Thank you for telling me dad," she spoke. She stepped closer and snuggled against his chest briefly. "I will go and rest now so I can help the pack with their tasks tomorrow," she then stated. And slipped out before her father could ask any more questions and get suspicious.