thinking of you

It had been a while since Charon had seen his friend. He figured that Osprey would visit now that he was Beta Male of Stavanger Bay, but she hadn't so far. So on this day, about a week after his promotion, Charon decided to leave the Bay for a little while to focus on his friendship with Osprey. Besides, he couldn't wait to tell her the good news. She'd be so proud of him. He just hoped he wouldn't run into that terrible Dante. He was such a narcisist bore.

Upon his approach of Blacktail Deer Plateau's borders, Charon let his tail hang at his hind legs and kept his posture neutral to indicate that he meant no threat. The Bay wolf lifted his head into the air and called for Osprey, unaware that his friend was no longer here to answer his call.

I was just about to PM you about that thread I said I'd start... well... this is convenient for us. <___<

If anything, Charon could have added to the list of wolves he wasn't interested in meeting. Perhaps chief among them would have been his uncle as well. But as it were, the incidents of their prior meeting were long behind Mordecai. He had made a hazy round of the borders, only giving the burnt landscape of one particular area a wide berth in doing so. He was about the close up the end of that round when a call came from behind him, one that so easily jabbed an ice pick through to his sternum. He did not recognize the voice of Charon, but instead recognized for whom the call asked for. Osprey.

He doubled back without so much of a second thought, immediately moving to close in the distance. It was no more than a few minutes before he had set his sights on the speckled form of his nephew and for a moment, could not help but linger in the dense undergrowth. He had not known that Osprey and Charon were acquainted and of course, he wanted to believe that it was more than just an acquaintance. It did not take much for the wily storyteller to charm a friendship out of anyone, Mordecai among them.

So when he made his approach, he tried to cover a certain weariness in it. Yet Charon would probably sense that things were askew within the plateau; woodsmoke still clung to the older Ostrega, partially from his budding inability to stop lingering around the area to begin with. Always searching for that one sign, that sliver of hope that betrayed the growth of thoughts that suggested what had become of his companions. And perhaps more at the forefront of this was the idea that he would have to break that news to a youth that was less of a youth now than he had been.

"Charon," he greeted, ignoring the collection of his thoughts. "It's been a long time. How are you?"

yay :D thanks for joining!

When he saw the approach of another in the distance, budding excitement was quickly replaced by irritation when he noted that it was not the face of his friend, the one he had called for, that had come to greet him. It was his uncle, the one he hadn't seen since that one visit where he'd come to see his brother who had been long-dead by then. He hadn't bothered visiting his nephews since. Typical.

But when the older Ostrega drew nearer, Charon noticed an unpleasant scent to him. He couldn't figure out why, but it unnerved him and made him feel uncomfortable, like running. It made him feel, in combination with the fact that his adventurous friend was not here to greet him herself, like something was wrong with Osprey.

'How are you'. Three simple words that had never been more inappropriate. "How am I? Where's Osprey? Why isn't she here?" Charon's brow furrowed into an angry scowl while he demanded these things, although there was a quaver in his voice that betrayed the fear his anger spewed forth from. "Where is she?!" Charon demanded again, his voice rising to a pitched squeak at the end of it, saying it as though Mordecai had perhaps hidden Osprey away himself.

*dances excited*

Well, so much for keeping things on the down low. There were probably a hundred other better openings he could have come up with, but perhaps none of them would have not been enough to quell the anger that came rushing out of Charon's mouth. He sensed things were awry, and if there was still any testament left to his puphood, it was the way his voice quaked and rose in pitch.

Mordecai drew his ears back in response, as though that would save the piercing words from bombarding him. It was there that he decided that there was no use in trying to soften the words that would have eventually been said. "Because she isn't here," he answered, then lacking the formalities for what he supposed Charon wanted to hear. Something firm and direct, unwavering. "None of us have seen her since the fire, or have been able to find any trace whatsoever. Clearly she did not flee our territory to come to you." His ears drew themselves forward again, and this time he fought the urge to peer back and try and find where the small portion of the plateau had burned. He wasn't even entirely sure that it could be seen from where they were.

Mordecai remained calm, and Charon didn't really want to give him the gratification of being angry. He couldn't help being angry, though, which only infuriated the young Beta even more. Osprey wasn't allowed to be gone... There were too many wolves gone in his life already. She had to be here. She had to be somewhere. Uncle Mordecai described things as he tended to -- Charon'd almost forgotten what he was like -- with a hint of misplaced sarcasm. Charon pursed his lips and frowned deeply, though he refrained from bursting out into anger.

"She... She can't be gone," Charon said as he looked at Mordecai, fighting his emotions, the frown still on his face. "She's my friend. I was gonna tell her 'bout how I'm a Beta now, and she was gonna take me on adventures..." Charon looked away, unwanting to look at his uncle. He wanted Osprey to be here, not Mordecai, and seeing him here when he'd called for his friend gave Charon the urge to blame her disappearance on him, even if he knew it was irrational.

I'd hug Charon if I didn't think he'd eat my face. :C

And where he had anticipated anger, he instead met a mixture of emotions that were just as unpleasant. The struggle over which emotions would take hold of his young nephew was evident not by his speech alone, but the scant mannerisms and nuances in expression. For whatever modicum of guilt washed through Mordecai, it was brief. Life was often not fair and he found there were little reasons to sugarcoat the truth, least of all with someone who had a hair-trigger temper. But the noticeable sag in his own mannerisms was hard to avoid — Osprey was his friend too. She was all of their friends and frankly Mordecai doubted that she had any enemies. It simply was not in her nature.

"Why don't you come and help us look?" he suggested. "Just because we haven't found where she's gone doesn't mean she isn't around somewhere. Maybe one of her trolls scooped her up and is keeping her safe." He didn't know if she had ever spoke of the trolls to Charon, or what kind of stories that the two shared. And for as much as he wanted to dote upon the mention of rank, he shied away from a likely outburst. Now wasn't the time anyway for such things. And as it was, they probably could have used all the able bodies for a searching party anyway, so why not try it with someone who had fresh eyes to the whole thing?

<3 he's gonna miss osprey! wallowing-in-grief-bonding tiem :P

Charon wasn't sure what to do once the emotions slowly started to sink down again and he got them under control. Should he leave, storm off to deal with his emotions alone, or stay? He didn't really want to stay with his uncle, but neither did he want to be alone right now. He wanted to be with Osprey, but life wasn't fair, and apparently it decided to prove so once more.

Mordecai broke his train of thoughts by asking if he wanted to come help look for Osprey. Charon nodded silently while he continued to push his emotions away. Once they were adequately under control, the young Beta said, "I would like that." He smiled a sad smile briefly when Mordecai mentioned trolls, and thought of Drake, a figment of his and Osprey's imaginations. He doubted she'd just run off without telling anyone, but everything seemed possible. Osprey was pretty adventurous, after all, and maybe she was just visiting another friend, somewhere else. Heck, maybe she was even visiting Charon, but they'd missed each other. It was a big world out there.

lmao it might be sad that this may be their first positive interaction...

This time around where he again thought he would receive anger and a prompt storming off as before, Charon surprised him by agreeing to help look for her. That alone told Mordecai enough of what his friendship with Osprey was, and he could not help but give a slow wave of his tail for a few moments. A silent offer of thanks.

It was then that he turned towards the inwards of the plateau, but thought better of leading his nephew through them. That was there territory and in spite of whatever familiar connection he had with Charon, the plateau was not his pack. So instead Mordecai decided they would take the long way around towards the foothills and mountains where the fire had begun. There had been no sign of Osprey within the territory by now, so it was probably safe to guess that she was nowhere within.

"Let's go this way," he started, gesturing. "We haven't found signs that she came out this way from the fire, so maybe she's gone up towards the mountains." With that, he started off in a steady pace as they had miles to go before they would ever begin a decent search.

it is, and also so very real -- grief often brings people together :)

Charon wondered if Mordecai lead him away from the territories because, without Osprey to guide him, he was no longer welcome within them, or because they had already searched extensively within. When Mordecai asked him to follow, Charon just followed. He wondered how much territory had been affected, and how long ago it had all been. By the scent of Mordecai's coat, it seemed short ago.

"How long ago was it?" Charon asked while they walked, feeling oddly calm now that he had a purpose to set his anger and emotion towards by trying his best to help find Osprey.

indeed it does!

"A couple of days ago, give or take," Mordecai answered with a shake of his head. "The days have kind of run together, to be honest." And for a moment, he wondered if that was something that Charon would understand. That essence or feeling where time seemed to slip away just as quickly as grains of sand. Some days time wasn't so present, other times it seemed like just yesterday he was as fresh and full of youth as Charon found himself now. But it too was a thought that he tossed aside as they progressed, the first tinges of black and unyielding canopy peeking through the verdant climb.

He gestured towards them. "It's mostly towards the eastern side of our territory. We haven't found any sign of her in what burned that suggests the worst. I think she may have gone towards the mountains to escape it. It's what I would have done, anyway," he went on to say, gaze shifting from the burnt tree-tops to the sprawl and height of the mountains that the plateau nestled into.

Charon resisted the urge to comment that if someone burned, you'd probably find nothing but ashes anyway. He didn't want to believe that Osprey was dead, so he preferred lying to Mordecai and, with that, himself. The young Beta followed quitely for a while, not responding right away to what Mordecai had explained.

"Did you guys check the mountains yet?" he then asked. He wondered how much of the territory had been burnt. If only he knew more of fires, but he'd never witnessed one before. "How did it happen?" he asked, although he was mostly curious from a Naturalist point of view and not so much because he thought it'd help him find Osprey quicker.

sorry for holding this up, iris. :C <333

As they progressed onward, more question bubbled out of Charon. If not for the events that had happened, Mordecai imagined that he would have been amused with the shift in their relationship. Granted, it wasn't much of one. Still, he found the answers came to him just as easily as the questions that Charon asked.

"It was a lightning strike," he said, though not able to recall what that strike was like. There had been several before and during the rain that followed. There were always strikes when storms came. "It happened right before it started raining hard, so I guess it came from out ahead of the actual storm itself." He shrugged his shoulders, though not to dismiss it; Mordecai simply didn't understand what it happened the way it had come about.

"But we've been working our way up towards the mountains. Only problem we have is that it's hard to climb from where we are... part of the path up to the mountains is too difficult to travel. Like part of the path was sheared off a long time ago." He spoke of the rocky wall that stopped their domain, though once more he couldn't have described it well. It was certainly formidable and had he been a little more aware of it, Mordecai may have been able to surmise that the Plateau stemmed from its creation.

's all fine :)

Mordecai spoke of how part of the path up the mountain was hard to travel and therefore they had not been able to look up there much. It interested him as a Naturalist, and he wanted to see it, but he also wanted to find Osprey. And Charon didn't think that they would find Osprey by looking up a path they could not even reach themselves.

"If it's not travelable, then it's probably not where Osprey is," Charon said. "We should probably look in surrounding territories instead." Charon looked at Mordecai to see if he thought this a good idea. "That is, if the path is really untravelable. We could have a look at it first, if you want to, and check. I'm a Naturalist, you know, so I know those kind of things." Charon hadn't meant to sound quite as wise-ass as he sounded, but he did think it was best to inspect and then draw conclusions, even if it was unlikely Osprey had gone up a difficult to travel path up a mountain if she ran from a fire.

"It must be nice," Mordecai found himself commenting dryly at the boast. He didn't quite mean it in the wise-ass way either, but it came natural to quip back when quipped at, and well, Charon had proven that he was full of quips. It may have been a shame that Verrine was not around to look after his own children and as it were, Mordecai did not see himself as being much of a help. They were all out of his hands anyway, and he found that perhaps the words were more salt in a raw scrape than he realized.

"I haven't personally tried to scale the area. I'm not much for mountains anyway. Nice to look at the view off of, but they're kind of impractical for living when you think about it." Though that said, he had lived on Silvertip Mountain for a time, and that seemed like it was much longer than just a measly year ago. Even then, he found the only times he hit the higher elevations was to draw in the view. Otherwise, the lowlands and foothills were just fine. "But you'd be surprised what someone will do when it comes to surviving. Just because it seems like it's impassable doesn't mean it is. I've known Osprey to venture into some interesting places." A smile graced him then, as he was certain that even Charon had touched upon her adventures at one point or another.

"And, who knows where she might have gone to escape. Who knows where we all would have gone if the fire had been any worse." The smile slid from his face just as easily as it came. There was always that what if prospect that stemmed from the backbone of any recollection. He had ruminated over them a time or time, but often avoided them. What was done was done, whatever had happened had happened. There was no changing the past and equally no point in living in it.

"It is," Charon retorted, his eyes narrowing a little at Mordecai's comment. He decided not to let it get to him and show that he was superior by... well, perhaps he shouldn't have commented back, but whatever. His uncle deserved it.

Mordecai went on a tangent about mountains and how he didn't like them, only to suggest that Osprey probably could've gone to the mountains if she wanted to. He seemed indecisive; didn't like mountains, but wanted to check them anyway. Charon didn't think that Osprey had honestly gone to the mountains; it looked like there were plenty of places to flee to other than mountains that would probably make her trip and fall.

"Whatever, sure, let's check it," he said, though he clearly didn't agree that she might be there. Charon sniffed the surroundings as he trotted up to the path that was poorly travellable. He didn't smell anything Osprey-like there, but then, neither did he smell much else beside the charred scent of fire. Yuck.

He didn't let on that they had exhausted all the other options as they continued on, instead opting to lapse into silence, unwilling to meet the rise that came with the turn of Charon's commentary. The rise of the land shifted, their scenery becoming more and more blackened as they nestled along the curve of the borders. Though time had been allowed to pass since that fire, it very well may have been as though it still smoldered there. Mordecai felt his throat constrict briefly at the overview of it all, wondering just how much worse things could have been if it had clung to the mountainsides and continued to spread.

They had been more than just unfortunate. If not for the rain, who knew what would have become of them all. Charon could have just as easily approached their borders only to find them all nothing more than charred bones and ashy husks. Anyone could have, for that matter. Meeting the rise of a steep grade, Mordecai hauled himself up with much more vigor than he thought he had, as though he had not forgotten what it was like to scale a rocky ledge. And there, he thought he found something, his pause sudden and without warning as he teetered.

Testing the air, he tried to pinpoint what it was that he had scented.

The ashy landscape was enough to shut even Charon up. A frown fell onto his face as he stared out at the landscape in awe, and he swallowed dryly as he imagined what it must have been like to be in the fire. It was a thought he soon banished from his mind again, and ears folded back as he silently looked around.

Mordecai lead the way up the rocky slope, and Charon waited a moment before he tried to scramble up too. It took him a couple of tries before he managed to find the right spot and haul himself up. Once up, he watched as Mordecai sniffed the air as though he'd found something. Charon sniffed too, but all he could smell was the thick scent of fire and ash -- of death -- all around him.

It turned out to be nothing, really. Nothing of any importance, though it spoke volumes of what may have passed through there before them. Even in spite of the hallowed ground, so to speak, it did not stop the creatures that did not care. Whether or not that scent was of that of a canine, Mordecai could not ascertain. He pressed on.

Some few feet higher on the slope, the terrain evened out ever so slightly. It was enough that he could stand without feeling as though he needed to keep himself balanced precariously, and was enough of a ledge that he could turn and survey what little bit of height they had covered. From there, he could make out some of the finer points of where the Plateau's claim was. If not for the fire, he would have thought it was nice view. But what was one a picturesque vantage point only now revealed the start and finish of what had burned.

His mouth opened as though to comment on it, but he closed it again as he thought better of it. Instead he stepped aside some, providing Charon the space needed to join him. And when he had his fill of the view, Mordecai's attention turned back to the proverbial wall that rose steeply beyond them.

Charon had grown up exploring a lot, so mountains were no strangers to him. He'd often been on Horizon Ridge, and while this was steeper and more dangerous, Charon didn't even think of the potential danger; he just darted along after Mordecai, unaware of the dangers, as though he'd grown up here.

When they reached a point where they could oversee the damage, and Mordecai made space for Charon to do so, Charon opened his mouth in quiet amazement. He'd never seen a fire or its damage before up close, and although he had just walked through the charred remains down below, it was magnificent to see it from up above. He lost himself in the moment, and for a moment he forgot that they were searching for Osprey, that the fire was the reason she was gone, and he even momentarily forgot how sad he was to have lost one of his best friends as he watched one of nature's wonders (albeit a destructive, frightening one) down below.

He didn't like what he saw above them, and turned towards Charon to peer beyond where they had came. It would have seemed to him that the easiest way to really go and get up higher was to backtrack a little, but he also couldn't have helped but be distracted by the expression that had come across Charon's features. That alone helped to navigate his gaze back across the expanse of charred land, and by then Mordecai had turned in a full circle.

"It doesn't seem as bad from up here," he commented then, offering his feelings. And really, for Mordecai that was true. It seemed less of a devastation to him from there, like it covered less ground than it really did. But in truth, it had burned a fair part of their territory in a short time. "To be honest with you, if it hadn't rained when it did, I think the fire would have taken us all before we could have gotten away. It moved fast." His tone lost the smoothness to it, replaced with an absent sort of sorrow and worry that came from his recall of the evening.

He shook his head and with it the memory was cast aside.

#hypocritalert xD

Charon thought it still looked pretty bad from up here, even though it looked like relatively a smaller patch because of the wide view. He rolled his shoulder in an absent-minded shrug at Mordecai's comment, barely listening. When Mordecai said that the fire would've taken them all if not for the rain, Charon didn't comment either, but he heard the words said. He didn't care about anyone in their dumb-ass pack, but he decided to keep that comment to himself. Charon would've gladly thrown stupid Dante and even his uncle Mordecai into the fire if that would've saved Osprey. Sadly, he didn't have such a choice.

"Whatever. Osprey's not here." Charon started to shuffle back, eager to get away from the view of the destruction, despite its magnificence. A dark frown befell his face as he started to go down again silently. The moment of quiet bonding over their mutual loss was over. Charon was now just feeling angry that Mordecai was so happy that his life had been spared when Osprey's charred remains possibly lay beneath the mountain their feet trod on.

Uncle Mordecai was such a selfish bastard.

seemed like an appropriate place to fade this out, especially since i fail at responding. :X

And in spite of whatever progress he felt they had made between each other, Mordecai realized that it was truly for naught. The truth of it all was that in light of his altruism, Mordecai also believed in survival of the fittest. He was thankful that he had been spared by the flames, had no doubts that the others felt the same. It was unfortunate what had possibly become of anyone who hadn't made it through the fire, but there was little that any of them could do now. Time did not go backward in any essence, it plowed forward and went on and on regardless of the trials and tribulations that were along its course.

So when Charon left him, Mordecai held his tongue.

They were all a confident lot through and through, but sometimes that confidence turned far too easily into arrogance. And the ignorance therein struck a nerve with the older Ostrega, but he knew better. Anger was a consuming beast, a damper to the senses of the finest accord; he did not allow it to blanket what they had originally set out there to do. If Charon wanted no part in it, then fine; Mordecai had no control of him, nor would try. So he concluded their meeting in the only way he knew how — he continued his climb of the veritable wall alone.