Blacktail Deer Plateau Your first light my eventide

*ships these three*

Fox's question earned a bark of surprised laughter from Peregrine. "It all went down rather quickly, didn't it? I'm sorry if I gave you whiplash. I probably gave everyone whiplash," he mused. Still grinning from ear to ear, he explained, "That was Osprey Jr., the one who I thought had drowned. She did wash downriver, evidently, and spent the past few weeks living with another pack. Can you believe it?"

"I'll have to break my own rules about mingling with outsiders to go there and thank them personally," he continued after a pause. "You know, I think I actually know the dude who looked after her. And, actually..." He trailed off, then made a strange sound as a realization struck him. "If I'm not mistaken, it was his wife that Crete knocked up. Fuck me..." he marveled quietly. Had Osprey unknowingly stayed with her blood cousins?

Shaking his head—there were a whole lot of details to still unravel about Osprey's story—Peregrine quipped, "How's that for a dramatic introduction to the plateau? Now that she's back, though, everything should go back to normal. And it's up to you how much you want to involve yourself with her and the other kids. In fact, I'd almost prefer you keep your distance until you're sure you'll be sticking around," he said with a crooked smile, hoping Fox wouldn't be offended. He actually hoped she would be relieved of any sense of responsibility. Neither he nor the kids were looking for a stepmom; they already had three parents.

"You look very pretty in this light," Peregrine said softly in the next moment, his tail twitching slightly. As much as he was caught up in his daughter's resurrection, he wouldn't let his new relationship with Fox fall to the back burner. As if to remind them both of this, he reached out and slowly rubbed his black muzzle against hers, placing a few tender, lingering kisses along her jaw before reluctantly withdrawing and seating himself across from her.

Not a moment later, Lasher appeared, a spray of flowers in his muzzle. Peregrine smiled tenderly at the ocher male. He, too, had begun to fall in love. The familiarity between the two took him by surprise and he looked wonderingly at Fox. Just setting his eyes on her made him realize he was falling for her too (though hadn't he really fallen for her some time ago?). Funnily, his affinity for each of the two wolves before him did not subtract from his adoration for the other. In fact, just seeing them together this very first time made his heart splutter with joy.

"You've met?" he questioned lightly. "This is Fox," he introduced, since it was the polite thing to do. "Fox, this is Lasher. Look, he brought us flowers." For the moment, he made no mention of his hopes for the two of them to pair-bond as he had with each of them individually. He would let Lasher in on the possibility at some point, of course, and divulge the nature of his relationship with Fox. The rest, he would let happen naturally, if it was meant to happen at all.