Heron Lake Plateau spare dad

And it took Vasa like all of five seconds to start throwing shade in his direction. Of course. He managed to mostly ignore the first look she shot him, keeping his eyes fixed on Eljay, but when she starting whining about how wwweeeiiiird he was being and insistently motioning him over with his head he couldn't help but wrinkle up his nose and make faces at her right back. Sisters, man. How had Owen ever lived with them and their attitudes, forrealz.

Despite his reluctance though, between quietly growing curiosity and his pushy sister's demands Owen did take a few halting steps closer, turning his green eyes to scan Eljay's face searchingly. He wasn't even quite sure what he was looking for, only that he really wished he was seeing...something. His old puppysitter looked pretty happy to see Owen again, at least; the younger boy's lips curved up into a tentative smile and his tail started in with a small but brave wag of acknowledgement. Though he wasn't quite sure how he felt about Eljay's "defense" of him...was "different" really any much different or better than "weird" after all? Owen wasn't entirely sure, especially with how suspiciously euphemistically it struck his ears...but Owen did appreciate Eljay's trying, in any case. Owen lost plenty of word battles with his own sisters all the time, at any rate, and thought he maybe knew how Eljay felt on that front, at least a little.

Owen was quite thoroughly distracted from any mental debates over word choice very shortly however. The wavering smile evaporated off his face and his tail froze crookedly in mid-wag. Oh. Owen frantically searched the sudden hollowness inside him for some sort of clue as to how he was supposed to take this. (Eljay was right to be paranoid. ...Maybe it was catching now from Owen, who knew.) He swallowed hard and tried to do what he thought was the Socially Appropriate Thing, regardless of what he felt. You... and Wildfire? Uh...congratulations. Right? That's a good thing? It really did feel like too much to deal with, all at once... puppies. Eljay was going to have his own puppies, what—and soon. When? I mean... H-h-how soon? You're expecting...great, I mean. That's...great. At some point Owen's forepaws had of their own accord somehow managed a fumbling step or two back. His ears were tilted back at a hesitant angle and his eyes were big as he forced himself to keep looking at Eljay, and to summon up a sickly little grin rather than turn and run away from all these terrible feelings, homg.