Broken Antler Fen not anybody knows that i am lucky to be alive

for @Penn!

After his failed attempt at finding Penn the other day, Eljay decided to give it another go days later. He was looking forward to reunite with his brother, whom he hadn't truly seen since their parents had died. He really did want a better bond with one of the fewer relatives that still lived in the area. In Penn's youth, Eljay'd been depressed over Wildfire's death and he had been busy trying to raise Elfie and Weejay alongside it. Even though they had shared the same densite, Eljay had not gotten to spend as much time with his last batch of baby siblings as he liked, bar Sugar, and then only because she frequently sought him out herself and visited a few times when she was older and a travelling medic (fleetingly he thought of her; how was she now?).

Eljay set out through the Fen, trying to catch a trail of Penn's so he could seek out his brother this time.

Penn had not needed recent events to inflate his ego any further. Unfortunately, that doesn't change that they had happened and now everyone had to deal with an extra cocky, extra arrogant young Blackthorn.

He'd taken his time coming back to Brecheliant after his most recent excursion into the Wilds. To say he was trolling for more strange would be a painfully accurate statement. But, what was to be expected from a hot-blooded young male in the midst of his sexual awakening? Now that he'd returned (with no additional encounters under his belt), he had a mind to hunt down Ibis and "see how she was doing". So it was just that he had set off to do when he wandered past Eljay.

Penn glanced to his right as he crossed his elder brother's path, giving him a cursory glance, a smile, and a nod of greeting. He turned his head back forward and continued on his way, as though it was perfectly normal to see him in this context. His mind, clearly, was elsewhere.

When Eljay finally ran into Penn, his brother didn't really seem to see him. Or maybe he didn't recognise him..? It had been some time, and Eljay hadn't always been the big brother that he wanted to be for Penn because of the weary times, but Eljay didn't think that Penn would totally not remember him? Or was he ignoring him on purpose? All of this made Eljay feel extremely awkward, and he blinked in confusion as he halted, his mouth still ajar as he had intended to verbally greet his brother.

Then, as Penn passed him and seemed to be on his way, Eljay called after him, Uh, hey Penn — It's me, Eljay. His voice resounded his awkwardness, but he hoped that at least his name would ring a bell.

Penn paused when his brother spoke to him, casting a backwards glance over his shoulder with a furrowed, curious brow. Why was he introducing himself? Did he really think Penn was that dumb? It took a moment for his brain to kick in (because he is that dumb) and clue him in--Eljay wasn't part of Brecheliant. What on earth was he doing here?

"Right," he said dumbly, giving his head a shake as he turned around to face his older brother, "This is not where I usually see you, is it? Tell me you finally snapped and now you're a wild, out of control villain and you've gone rogue and infiltrated the pack to steal all of our food or women or something bad ass." Penn grinned at the thought. He would totally join his brother's life of crime if that's what was really up. But actually, he suspected this more likely had something to do with Maia than anything nefarious.

It seemed like his statement only further confused Penn. What was going on? Eljay was starting to worry a bit — worry that either he'd mistaken someone else for Penn (but they had said Penn was a part of Brecheliant, right?) or that something was terribly wrong with his brother.

Just as Eljay was about to go into worried big brother mode, Penn finally said something that sort of made sense. Eljay blinked a few times at Penn and then he said, Well... I hate to disappoint you, but uh, no. He then smiled softly, the confusion finally melting off his face, as he explained: Things got a bit... Well, a lot, at the Caldera, and I decided to move here to live with Maia. She'd told me you live here, too. How do you like it? He hoped his brother would stick around; Eljay would love to get a bit closer to his littlest of brothers, and he would love for his children to have an uncle.