Two Rivers Isle I remember your silhouette on Dyes Inlet

While he was feeling anxious about this, at least it was making Wiffle look a little bit brighter as she said that she of course hadn't told anyone. Whew. At least he could breathe easily again about that. Facing any of the girls of the pack again if someone had told them that Eljay was maybe interested in finding a mate would be super awkward. Anyway, luckily that wasn't the case. Wiffle seemed to look a little more down when she said the 'I just...' and Eljay held his breath, literally, because he was afraid she might get upset again. And Eljay wasn't very good at dealing with upset persons. Even though it was good to cry sometimes, someone else crying still made him feel like he had to, as well, because he felt sad for them.

Her words hit him like a sledgehammer at first. 'I just lost a child' was such a direct description of the thing that caused the pain that it made Eljay feel a pang in his heart, even if he didn't even know Bat at all. She went on to say that it was the worst pain ever. A part of Eljay-brain tried to get him to recollect the pain of losing Peter way too early, which caused some short circuit panic and he quickly glossed over it, not wanting the pain back again. It was easier not think about it at all, especially poor little Peter who'd been so tiny still. It'd be like Owen... No. Nope. Not gonna think about that.

When Wiffle mentioned 'even the ones that hate me now' Eljay frowned in confusion. Who hated her? Why would they ever hate their own mother? None of it made sense, but the hating-children-thing wasn't the point she tried to bring across and Eljay was also distracted by the way she looked like she was about to cry. Oh no! What should he do? Wait, Wiffle was also trying to make a point to him here, and he should pay attention to that.

Wiffle inhaled and exhaled, a thing Eljay recognised only too well from when he had one of his panic attacks. He frowned and shuffled a step closer somewhat awkwardly, ready to offer a shoulder to cry on if she wanted to (or fur to hide in, which he had found, especially when younger and when it was moomy's fur, worked really well because nobody could at least see your face when you were crying). But just as he was about to, Wiffle continued, saying that she wanted him to experience what it was like to be a parent. And he wanted to, and thought it was really sweet that Wiffle would tell him such a thing -- it meant that she cared about him, and Eljay cared about her too, so, well... It was just nice when someone cared for you, he supposed, especially since he was feeling a little lonely and missing some of the key figures in his Redhawk life right now.

All of it was overshadowed by Wiffle's sobbing, though. Eljay's face formed into a worried frown as he tried to figure out how to react. She managed to choke out the summary of what she had said, or at least its meaning -- the reward is worth every risk -- and Eljay huddled a bit closer. He wanted to tell her she could cry, but instead he came back to something else. You're so sweet -- Eljay started, but he couldn't help but choke out a few sobs, too, fuelled not only by the sweetness of Wiffle but also by her grief and crying. Sorry, I'm -- Now you're making me -- Sob, sob, -- I mean, you have every right to cry, not me, so it's, I'm weird, but just, you're so sweet and you don't deserve it -- the bad things. The story was a little incomprehensible perhaps because Eljay was sobbing in between and feeling like a total idiot for crying about the fact that Wiffle was crying (and a little bit of happy-cry and grateful-cry over how sweet she was to wish him all the best and tell him a story about risk and reward even though she probably already knew it'd make her feel unhappy again herself).