Honeyed Pasture Eight seconds left in overdrive

I LOVE THIS because Charon himself had this happen. :') Thanks for the interesting developments, guys. I'd really love a thread with each of you some time! <3

Fire blazed in Charon's eyes when Osprey dared to insult him as she did. He didn't understand one bit why she had suddenly gone from a warm friend to a cold bitch. He wanted nothing more than to weep his eyes out over it, but his pride wouldn't allow him to break down and ask Osprey with tear-filled eyes why she didn't like him, because there were only likeable things about him. The thought was laughable; he was a King, after all, and he would not be treated so unjustly. Osprey was blind, and while he didn't know the details, in his heart he knew what -- or rather, who -- was the cause of it all. Dante, of course.

But the young boy that cowered behind her played no little part too, for if she didn't go out making other friends than perhaps she would have still needed Charon. He reminded himself that he had invited her to visit him, if not largely because of her stupid boyfriend or whatever the fuck he was. Dante would doubtlessly dislike him visiting his pack, and that was why he had asked Osprey to come to his mountain, to see his glorious kingdom. But she had never come. She hadn't come. It was her fault, not his, and so he didn't deserve to be treated this way.

"How dare you," Charon hissed, his teeth baring in anger. "I thought you were my friend, I even accepted that dumb-ass boyfriend of yours, I invited you into my home, and this is what I get?" He puffed himself up further, the tip of his tail twitching. He had no intentions to attack either of them -- Charon had always had more of a barky character than a violent one -- but he hadn't a clue that the boy that cowered behind Osprey had no idea of that. "I am a King, how dare you call me a --" That was when the pungent scent entered his nostrils, causing Charon to wrinkle his nose in disgust. He glanced around to find its source, distracted for a moment, when he noticed the look on the cowering boy's face.

Disgusting.

There was a brief flash of surprise on Charon's face -- mostly because he was reminded of his own mishaps when he was younger. He felt empathy briefly flush over him, and his conscience battled his pride while he glared at the boy through gritted teeth. Another might mistake his anger for distracting the attention away from himself, or for disgust, for finding the boy nothing but despicable for what he had done. Charon's anger, however, came from the fact that the boy had just reminded him of his past, and had reminded him of the fragile mortal that he was -- that he had once been. Charon'd always wanted to be brave, but he had never really been so. Not until he fought Dante, anyway, and he had been forced to be brave or die. All encounters before that he had frozen, unable to do what he wanted to, unable to fight.

He was not that wolf anymore. He didn't want anyone to remind him of how he'd once been that wolf. That boy. The boy that cowered behind Osprey.

The boy had taken his place. "I HATE YOU!" Charon bellowed loudly at no one in particular -- or maybe both of them -- and he gave Osprey a shattered look, emotion stirring in his night blue eyes while he made eye contact with her for but a moment. Then he turned and ran. Tears started to cloud his eyes as he turned around, and he ran as fast as he could. He felt vulnerable and betrayed. For a moment he felt as though he had ruined his own chances, but then he reminded himself that Osprey hadn't even visited him, and she likely never would have, anyway. To think that she cared was to pretend, and he was an adult now. Done pretending.

Pain stabbed sharply at the boy's heart as he ran and ran, until he found a thicket that he collapsed into at the frays of the territory. There, he wrapped himself up and forced his tears away, forcing bitter hatred in place of his feelings of inadequacy. He wasn't inadequate -- He was Alpha, Jarl, King, Emperor. A leader, with a throne, and loving followers. He was better than all of them, and he didn't need any of them.