Blacktail Deer Plateau Shine your light on everything

ooc: all welcome!

It was the first sunny day in a while and, when Osprey woke that afternoon she was happy to find out that it was warmer than it had been. She lifted her head to look up, blinked her eyes sleepily against the bright sunlight and yawned. She felt lazy, therefore she didn't get up right away, deciding to sprawl on the ground and stretch her limbs. Her first part of the day - from dawn 'till early morning had been spent hunting and seeking for food. There wasn't much meat left on the deer carcass she and Koda had found days earlier - despite their attempts to guard their territory, there were still plenty of predators and scavangers around, who feasted on the corpse, while no one was around. This meant extra effort, because hunger had become her "best buddy" recently. Insatiable.

A sound of tiny claws scratching against the tree bark made her look up again and her eyes met with a squirrel's dark, bead-like ones. The tiny creature, who had been climbing up the tree, had stopped mid-way and glanced down at the wolf that was lying on the ground nearby. Osprey stared back and whimpered, realizing that this fellow was out of her reach.

For once, Saena's wandering through the forest was neither pointless nor focused. She'd finished her hunting for the day in the early hours when prey was asleep and unsuspecting, and her thoughts were sharp and clear. She didn't even think about her dreams and how she hadn't had them in quite some time, and how she was slacking as a Naturalist in favour of providing meat for the pack and Blue Willow. Normally, her mind would've been buzzing with these things and ways to fix them, if only to fix her own failures... but today she was on a mission.

It didn't take long to find the wolf she was after. For a moment she lingered with a look of disapproval—who had time to lie around like that, she critically asked herself—but she knew she had to swallow her pride down. If she didn't, Dante would never let her redeem herself. As much as she suddenly and wrongfully believed the Alpha male was playing favourites, she had to be in his good books for what she wanted.

So she stepped forward and, without waiting to be acknowledged and mostly without making any attempt at eye contact, quickly said, "I've come to apologize."

Eventually the tiny creature grew bored of staring at the wolf, it said something in it's complex language and scurried up the tree and disappeared from Osprey's sight. She followed it with a pitiful gaze and then arranged herself to lie on her belly and be able to have a sniff at the tree bark. The scent there was fresh and it was then she realized, how very close the animal had ventured and how she - a fairly good and experienced hunter - had missed it by a whisker. Not a very nice thing to acknowledge.

It seemed that someone else had probably noticed her mistake, because her attention was drawn to the standing form of her estranged niece. Osprey first appeared surprised and then, when the details of their last encounter came back to her mind, this look turned into a frown. She drew back her ears slightly, feeling defensive. Saena told her that she wanted to apologize and yet... she didn't seem to feel sorry, so Osprey, who didn't like people doing things just because they had to and not because they felt like it, asked: "Why?"

Her voice sounded colder than she had intended, but somehow - try as hard as she might - she could not even find a piece of sincerety for the girl.

The chill tone of her aunt's voice wasn't missed. How could it be, when Saena was a bit of a master of being a giant bitch herself? Yet the girl managed to keep her temper in check, a feat she wouldn't have managed a month or two ago. It was hard to remind herself that this time she was in the wrong, but she had to do it. She had to be the bigger wolf, even if it meant taking a hit to her pride.

"I was out of line," she said, though she hated saying it when she so fancied she was Osprey's superior. The fact was, she wasn't, not in anyone's eyes but her own. "I felt... threatened." And that was the only thing Saena had to say for her floodgates to open up and for her mouth to undo her entire attempt at civility.

"But you were out of line, too, way back when. You shouldn't have lectured me, and you shouldn't have disrespected my request that you leave me alone. I would not have done that to you." Well, probably she would've, but Saena believed if someone told her to get lost, she probably would, if only to avoid the confrontation that would come with disobeying. "How do you expect me to want to respect you when you treat me like my opinions and feelings don't mean anything?"

I felt... threatened. The true reason behind her actions confused Osprey and this lack of understanding, what was really going on, reflected in her expression. She furrowed her brow, trying to remember, if there had been anything wrong she had unintentionally done to Saena ever since their last face-to-face talk almost two months ago. As far as she was concerned - she had respected the girl's wish not to have Osprey around and had kept her distance. She was mostly outside than within the pack's borders - where was threat in that? None.

"I don't regret, what I said then," Osprey replied, "and just the same way you feel that you did the right thing, when you confronted me, I feel that I had my right to tell, what my opinion about your attitude was." They were similar in a way. Neither of them were going to give up. "And to disrespect someone - there has to be some sort of relationship beforehand. Correct me, if I am wrong, but we have none," she pointed out - being disowned was never a nice thing - she let the bitterness resurface.

Well, maybe you should, the Saena from two months ago might've snidely said. The Saena of the present, however, better understood these things. Osprey had every right to her opinions; Saena could, and would, respect that reality. But it wasn't the opinion that she was worked up about; it was the delivery, or the fact her aunt had basically called her not-a-wolf for wanting nothing to do with her.

"You can speak your opinions," she said coolly, "you can sit there and say, "Saena, your attitude is shit," and you have every right... but that isn't what you did, you preached at me about family like you have any idea how it feels to be left behind by everyone you love, and then told me to grow up." There were other things, of course, like how Saena had been a massive bitch about it when she probably shouldn't have been, and how Osprey was actually telling the truth at the time... but she easily forgot those details.

When Osprey spoke about disrespect, Saena vehemently shook her head. "You're wrong." She wanted to say something like, "are you retarded," but bit it down by reminding herself she was trying to be better here. She was getting her feelings off her chest, yes, but that didn't mean she had to melt down like last time and get overly aggressive about it. "You don't even need to know someone to show them a little decency and respect when they ask to be left alone. Probably, they're going through a lot more than you if they say that, and the last thing they—the last thing I—need is to be lectured about it instead.

You were around less than my real dad when I was growing up. I hadn't even spent any time with you until I was at least half a year old! Then you just disappeared like my mom and Tytonidae and dad. You could've sent a messenger, but you didn't, you left me and everyone else to think you'd walked away too. Do you really think it's so unreasonable that I don't see you as my family?"

Truth to be told - so much had happened inbetween these two meetings - that Osprey didn't remember in detail, what she had told Saena that day. She was more aware of the fact that she had felt hurt afterwards and that the way the girl dealt with people coming and going was very childish. It seemed that by letting emotions speak more than the rational mind, she had said things that she shouldn't have. When you saw this from Saena's perspective, she understood that she had - indeed - crossed a line at some point and that damage that had been done was probably irreversable.

Yet the notion that Osprey had no idea, how it felt to be left alone, made her frown and bristle. This was a touchy subject, because the girl was so wrong. She knew exactly, how it felt to be left alone. Even worse - seeing, how a person you had once loved, turn into someone beyond recognition. A monster. She was tempted to tell her all of this now, to make her realize that she was not the only one in the world, who had to suffer. Life meant suffering and moments of happiness in unequal doses. Then again... look, how far preaching had got her last time. Therefore Osprey bit her tongue and listened to the end.

"I agree I have made mistakes and I apologize, if I have insulted you in any way," she went for a more diplomatic answer. "So, where does this leave us?" they couldn't start things from point zero, therefore clarifying on what terms they could co-exist peacefully was important.

She was surprised after her tirade to hear her estranged aunt apologize, but Saena would be lying if she said she wasn't also relieved. If she knew anything about the way Osprey had spoken of her to Dante and Peregrine and whoever else, she might've been more reluctant about accepting the apology... but as far as she knew, Osprey never spoke of her to anyone. She was under the assumption that her aunt was as indifferent to her existence as Saena was to Osprey's. Perhaps, then, this was a start in remedying that.

"I'm sorry for acting out, too," she said, "but... I do want to lead here, someday. I want to follow in dad's footsteps. Is that okay with you?" Maybe not the way he gave up on his marriage and walked out of his kid's lives for a new one, but the way he led. She believed Blacktail Deer Plateau belonged in her family, blood or not, and fancied herself as the prime contender. Whatever Osprey said wouldn't change her dreams, but might serve to change how she approached them. "We're pack mates. Maybe we can start out just trying to be friends?"

Osprey was good at keeping things in line, when it came to talking about people she knew. She tried to find something good in each of them, even if the person was the least likeable of them all. However, sometimes emotions got better of her and she said things she should not have. In case of Saena - she was not proud about, how very negative she had been about her. At that time the disownment had hurt her deeply.

The fact that the girl was aiming for the leader rank didn't surprise Osprey - she had suspected something like that. A part of her wished to tease her a little, in order to make her realize that, when the time came, she would not be the only one to go for the throne. Then again, she probably knew that already, why else ask her mind about it. She toyed a little with the possibility of being the queen of the forest herself one day, but it somehow didn't go well together with her current way of life, which she was not going to change.

So instead of saying something, she simply shrugged: "We can be friends."

"Good," Saena said, even though she wasn't totally convinced it was even a good idea. It was too easy to hold things against those who left, even if it was a fact of life and something she was coming to terms with. Who was to say that Saena wouldn't hold something against Osprey just for the sake of it? She was still pretty young and prone to fits of jealousy, as they'd all recently seen. She couldn't promise to be a good friend... but at least it was better than shaking up the hierarchy by being enemies.

"Maybe sometime we can meet up and get to know one another better?" she suggested. Part of Saena rebelled against her own suggestion and made her want to take it back and insist that she didn't really give a crap, but a larger part of her knew this was the best course to take. There was no denying they both had things to work out with one another, and what better way than to do it slowly?

There was a great difference between, when a person wanted to make friends out of sincere reasons or when the friendship was means of gaining profit from someone. And by the way Saena acted and spoke, Osprey had a very strong feeling that said that the chance of ever being more than just good acquaintances and colleagues was very low. That this "settling of things" was something the girl did, because she felt she had to do it and not because she wanted it herself. Whether anyone had influenced her decision, Osprey would never find out.

"Sure," Osprey shrugged again and yawned. It seemed that the conversation was drawing to an end and at good moment too, because she felt the very familiar weariness wrapping her in a warm and cozy blanket, making her sleepy. Therefore she put her head between her paws and sighed. Her eyes, however, were at the girl, in case she had anything else to say before she left.

ooc: you can finish this thread in your next post.

Osprey agreed, and in spite of all her relatively amoral reasons for choosing this, Saena felt relieved. She was learning that relationships weren't unsalvageable, and although she'd never say it, a part of her was glad to smooth things over with a relative.

"Okay. Well... bye," she said as the older woman began to settle down for what looked like a nap. Saena didn't hesitate to leave, and when she was well out of Osprey's sight, she let her shoulders sag as the tension she'd felt lifted away.