Firefly Glen exile

There was a lot on Osiris's mind—his relationship with Leta, Fennec's disappearance, and the forthcoming season. He needed some alone time to sort through his thoughts, and so he stole away to the shores of Heartspear Lake. He sat a distance away from the shoreline, watching the surface as he left his mind drift. 

Fennec had been gone for days, and there was no sign of her wherever Osiris looked. He wondered if something had happened to her—or if she was even still alive. Though he was hesitant to jump to conclusions, as running off seemed to be in her character, he couldn't help but expect the worse. Osiris reasoned it would be nothing short of a miracle if she turned up alive and unharmed. He believed that her impairment hindered her ability to survive on her own. 

Osiris sighed, shifting in his seat; his butt had fallen asleep. He had been alone for about an hour, and he had hardly scrathed the surface of his concerns.

:D

Toad, in contrast, had very little on her mind. She knew that many people were upset and worried about Fennec's disappearance. Bronco in particular was no doubt bothered by the whole thing. Perhaps if Toad had never met Fennec, she would have assumed something terrible must have happened to her. After all, when Mira went missing and Miriam's little Asmoses too, things had been rough. She remembered Dirge talking some time ago about all sorts of strange, ominous types that roamed the outskirts of the wilderness waiting for chances at stealing people away.

But Fennec was not a baby. She was an adult woman, regardless of her ailment. She was also rude and rather mean-spirited, Toad thought. Toad didn't think she was missing at all. She thought she left.

Of course, other than Fennec leaving a bad taste in her mouth when they'd first met, she had no proof to such an assumption. She simply found it hard to believe that some mysterious figure would steal her away from the territory. Maybe that was what happened, and if so, Toad sure sure that they would find her or she would come back the way Mira had.

Feeling rather lazy and hoping to enjoy the lakeside, Toad wandered to the banks of Heartspear and took a drink. When she turned back around, she noticed a ways a way, toward the farther side of the bank was Osiris. She thought about just nodding to him and wandering back away, but they hadn't talked in a while one on one. So, she waltzed over as her usual oblivious self and sat, relaxed and sideways, in front of him. Hey Osiris, she greeted, mistaking his dim face for boredom. What's up?

:D!!!

Osiris was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of Toad's voice. "Oh!" he exclaimed, feeling his heart rate spike, "Toad—I didn't notice you." He steadied himself with a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart.  

"Not too much, just thinking some things over," he answered once his pulse was back to normal. "What about you?" he asked, hoping for a brief break from his thoughts.

Osiris seemed flabbergasted that she was there, and she almost felt bad. Toad smiled with her eyes closed, giving him a moment to recover. She'd never really thought of herself as particularly ninja-like unless she was hunting, so Osiris must have been thinking about something really important and distracting to jump like that.

No worries, she said, and though she wondered what he was thinking about, she kept the question to herself. Oh you know, she grinned, not too much. She inhaled deeply so she could get the scent of the lake. I was tracking some pheasants, but they flew away. Most of her endeavours were failures; it was something you had to get used to as a hunter. You win some, you lose some, you know?

Osiris appreciated that Toad allowed him to compose himself, and he shot her an appreciative grin. He shook out his coat, freeing himself of any lingering excitement as she began to speak. "Oh?" he remarked, licking his chops and pushing forward his ears; it'd been a while since he'd last eaten pheasant. 

"Where were you tracking them?" he asked, now finding himself craving the smaller game.

They were just down by the creek beyond the lake, there on the other side, Toad gestured with her nose, reaching out across the lake. She knew the pheasants were likely still farting around in the same area. They hardly ever flew far and tended to stay in their little groups. Still, she'd given up pretty quickly, having no desire to wait long enough to have to surprise them again without a partner in crime.

Bronco's better with feathered things, but I figured I'd give it a shot anyway, she said. Really, Bronco had been the one to do the majority of the work when they'd found the turkeys.

Toad's information was helpful, and Osiris stashed the tidbit away for a rainy day. "That's good to know," he acknowledged, his eyes lingered where she had motioned for a moment longer. "If you come across them again, I'd love to join in," he added as his tail stirred, dusting the chilly shoreline. It was then that Osiris realized that he didn't know too much about Toad, despite her being one of the higher-ranked members. He wanted to amend this—both with her and the other subordinates that he didn't know as well. 

"Can you... tell me a little bit about yourself?" he asked next, seemingly out of the blue. To give her some context, he admitted, "I just realized how much we talk work, work, work, and how... I don't really know about your life pre-Moonspear." And if she didn't want to share? He'd understand and move on, knowing that some didn't like thinking about their past.

Of course! she said to the thought of him joining her in a hunt. Hunting was something she'd always been quite passionate about. To her, it felt much like a sport that happened to have high returns. She found herself in a "flow" when stalking and moving in ways she just didn't any other time. It was like her head could empty, and she could do what she was designed to do.

Then, his expression changed and he asked a wildly unexpected question, prompting Toad to smile awkwardly and flick one of her ears. Suddenly, she felt quite bashful. It was an easy enough thing for her to talk about herself, though, since it mostly meant talking about her family. I guess we pretty much always talk shop, don't we? She chuckled, wiggling a bit to adjust herself. I mean I came to Moonspear because I met Kukutux in the Glen, but before that I was actually looking for family down here. My older sister's name was Fox, and she was like, this legend in our family because she came out here and started the Redhawk Caldera with her mate.

Toad went on. I went to the Caldera, but it was empty. So I wandered around for a while searching for some sign of the pack she was said to have left behind, but I couldn't find them, she said, scrunching her brow. She was alone for a fair amount of time before coming to Moonspear. Joining Hydra and Dirge's team had been sort of like seeking out a surrogate family, since she expected that her sister's line had died out. But then not too long ago, I found out that Phox is my nephew, and so now I've got tons of extended family I didn't know I was living among the whole time. Meerkat, Fennec, and Bronco are my grand nieces and nephew, and there are probably dozens through marriages and things scattered around.

Toad realized she'd been talking without stopping for a fair bit there. It's pretty cool really, she finished, looking toward him, grinning.