Gyrfalcon's Keep This world falls on me

@Charon ! I decided to say screw productivity XD
Being somewhat vague since this happens after his Lasher conversation

It wasn't often that Dante wandered, but he needed the time. His head lately hadn't been in the plateau, and he was ashamed to say that the idea of moving on had crossed his mind a couple of times. Weak moments, but there nonetheless, and though he would never act on them they weighed on him. That his desires could betray him so was troubling indeed.

After his conversation with his beta, he didn't know what to think. And though he did not mean to avoid his packmates, he definitely hadn't been as present. He felt himself sliding a little back into old habits, keeping his own counsel and maintaining the boundaries that, while inspiring guilt, also felt natural.

Leaders did not form walls, nor avoid their packmates. And leaders certainly didn't take off for the coast on a whim. But here he was.

He reassured himself with the thought that hopefully this jaunt would allow him to get his shit together, so to speak. No easy task. He'd even caught himself at times looking back, wondering what would have happened if he had remained instead of leaving with his sister that day. His family might be brutal, but for a long time he had truly believed in what they fought for. What had changed that?

You came to your senses, he thought to himself firmly, but still the doubt remained. Recognizing it, he breathed out a sigh and stared at crags to his right. A snap decision was made, and changing course, he began to climb. As his muscled began to protest and he ascended higher, he picked up his pace, until he was taking the uneven slope at a gallop, concentrating on nothing but keeping his footing.

thanks for starting :)

It was the first time that Charon left Stavanger Bay since his scuffles in the great outdoors, but curiosity called him and he couldn't resist it. The young Ostrega adolescent had gone to Gyrfalcon Keep, where he'd met up with Ragnar; it felt relatively safe here, knowing it was close to Stavanger Bay. Even though it was unlikely, Charon felt that if something happened here, a member of the Bay would always be near enough to help him on his feet again. He couldn't be stuck in the pack's territories forever, anyway.

Charon was just following an uneven slope downwards while he stared out in the ocean's direction, lost in thought. Because he wasn't paying attention, Charon's feet slipped and he tripped on his face. He yelped a high-pitched cry of surprise and started to roll down the slope he was on. Another yelp followed when Charon was hit in the side by one of the many trees that littered Gyrfalcon Keep's mountainside and he crashed to an abrupt halt. Charon blinked his eyes and saw another wolf nearby, going up the mountainside; he could only hope the other wolf hadn't noticed him yet to spare some horrible embarrassment.

When the first yelp cut through, Dante faltered. Coming to an awkward and slightly stumbling stop, he cast about for the source. It wasn't until the second one, though, that he was able to pinpoint the location. Peering at the tree beneath which a light shape was now sprawled, Dante thrust forward curiously, taking care that his own passage wouldn't be in a similar manner. He hadn't seen the fall, but he could imagine.

"Hey, you alright?" He asked, stopping a polite distance away. He didn't know the stranger but they appeared young. Likely a member of one of the area packs, though a loner was not an impossible guess. He looked well looked after, though, to be on his own. He quested a bit for a scent, but did not wish to crowd or alarm.

Charon blinked his eyes a few times and it became painfully clear that the other wolf was on his way over. How embarrassing! A moment of fear befell Charon after his experiences in the wild, but soon he flipped back to embarrassment as the other wolf asked if he was okay. Charon quickly scrambled to his feet and tried to ignore the pain in his side. "Uh, yeah, I was just... y'know... practising my rolling skills," Charon said as casually as he could manage. Hopefully the other wolf would believe his lie. It was possible that another might take his comment as a casual joke, even though Charon was seriously trying to save himself from heartburn.

Charon shook his sandy fur. His side still really hurt, but he kept ignoring the pain. "Anyway, I'm Charon, from Stavanger Bay. I haven't seen you around here before. Who are you?" Charon looked curiously at the other wolf, eager to talk less about him and his silly mistake and more about the other wolf. He realised too late he should've picked a faulty name and lied to avoid this wolf going home and laughing with all his friends about how Charon from Stavanger Bay can't even walk down a mountainside without falling flat on his face. Well, too late for that now.

Fighting the urge to give a dubious 'mhmm', Dante elected to allow him his story and pride. "I didn't see, but I assume it's going well then." He said, refraining from smiling too broadly, though it was difficult. So this boy was from the bay, Ragnar's domain if he remembered correctly. He appeared to be too young to have dwelt there when Junior did, though Dante could be mistaken. Still, he had few qualms giving his station to a bay wolf.

"Dante, leader of Blacktail Deer Plateau. Nice to meet you, Charon." It wasn't often he met those outside his domain, for most times it was in the case of intruders that he saw new faces. When those situations occurred he could hardly stop to chat. Figuring that the younger one would likely lead conversation regardless of what he may say, Dante left his words at a simple greeting, though he was curious to see if Charon knew his pack's title.

When the wolf said that he hadn't seen it — phew — but assumed it was going well, Charon just nodded. He liked to forget his tumble as soon as possible, though it wasn't easy considering his side still hurt like hell. He introduced himself as Dante, 'leader' of Blacktail Deer Plateau. Charon figured that meant Alpha, since in Stavanger Bay, all they had was an Alpha.

What was more interesting than the fact that he was likely an Alpha, however, was that he was from Blacktail Deer Plateau. "That's where Osprey's from!!" Charon gasped in excitement. "Do you know her? Of course you know her, if you're a leader there. Do you like her? Do you liiike her??" So many questions, so little time to ask them all in! Charon's tail wagged in uncontained excitement at the discovery of what was possibly Osprey's ~*lover*~ or at the very least someone who knew about her. Cool!

Dante was taken aback a bit by the flood of enthusiasm. While he had been curious of a known connection, he hadn't expected that Osprey Sr would be the one to provide it. Though, now that he recalled, she had spent time there hadn't she? After her hunting accident, they'd taken her in. He'd forgotten, and immediately chided himself internally for being remiss.

"I do. I take it you are friends? I am her friend as well." He ignored the last suggestion the youngster had made, instead focusing on the former. "How did you meet her?" He could assume it was during that time, but it very well could have been later on. And just as he liked to hear from his outriders what their opinion of their neighbors was, so too did he like to hear the opposite. It not only gave him insights into his packmate's treatment of strangers, but also the strangers' dispositions themselves.

'I do' was all it took for Charon's excitement to explode entirely. He liked Osprey! The rest of Dante's words barely got through to Charon, so stuck in his boundless excitement for Dante's crush on Osprey. "Oh my gosh, does she know? Does she like you too?! Are you gonna be mates and have puppies? Can I visit a lot and be their special uncle?" he burst out excitedly, completely misinterpreting what Dante said. He mentioned something about being her friend or whatever afterwards, but Charon barely caught any of that. He excitedly explained, "Osprey's my friend, we have lots of fantasy adventures together!", even though that only answered part of Dante's questions.

While at first excited, he soon began to analyse whether Dante was actually good enough for Osprey, because she was probably one of the most special wolves that he knew in the whole world, so she deserved someone super special too. So far, Dante wasn't really super special (even though he did ignore Charon's awkward fall down the hillside).

Once again somehow, through conversation, he and another ended up being completely on the wrong page. At first he didn't think he'd heard right, and then he was fairly certain he gave a valid impression of a deer caught in the headlights. If he knew what headlights were, that is.

"Ahh, no... Osprey's my friend too. But just my friend." Good gods, at least she wasn't here to hear this conversation. The second one in such a short time when he could feel the heat of embarrassment flushing his undercoat.

"She is pretty awesome though, especially for adventures. Where's she taken you?" Steering the conversation away from that avenue, he hoped that Charon would latch onto the excitement of detailing some of these brave exploits instead.

Charon didn't even notice Dante's embarrassment, because he was too busy dealing with his own disappointment. It was clear from the expression on the adolescent's face that he hadn't expected — nor wanted to accept — these answers to his many excited questions. "Why?" Charon rudely asked. "If she's awesome, why isn't she your mate?" These silly adults just didn't understand how easy life was; when you thought someone was pretty awesome, you settled down and made puppies so that Charon could be the puppies' special uncle. Pff, what a spoilsport this Dante fellow was.

Dante tried to steer the conversation in another direction, and for a moment Charon was eager to tell about the adventures that he and Lady Nobless Firecomet had gone through. However, he realised soon that it was a ruse to get him to drop the Osprey-subject (or, well, the love-part of it). Charon suspiciously squinted his eyes to show his opponent how aware he was of the trick, but answered nonetheless. "Lady Nobless Firecomet and Sir Knight Starchaser and Squire Drake go dragon-hunting and visit the crafting bears and bite mean bears a lot in special cool places." Dante was probably too boring to know where any of the special cool places were that Charon, Drake and Osprey spent their time, anyway (and they actually hadn't named their special fantasy quest world, so he wouldn't know the exact location anyway), so Charon didn't specify. The 'where' didn't matter as much as the 'what' in their quests, anyway.

Charon's disappointment was so... adorable... that Dante couldn't help but smile a bit.  He wanted to ask 'well, how do you know I'm awesome enough?', but since the conversation had moved on he really didn't want to bring it back around.   Despite being rather blunt, he was a tad endearing with his directness so long as it wasn't fully directed.

Dante didn't miss the narrowed look, but Charon answered, so he took it favorably.  "Is that right?"  Lady Nobless Firecomet.  He'd have to remember that one.  "And how do you tell the crafting bears from the mean bears?"  He was honestly curious... a life skill, surely.  He didn't ask about the cool special places, though he did wonder.  He wasn't surprised Charon was completely enamored with Osprey... he wondered if she ever met a soul she couldn't charm.  

Stupid Dante didn't reply when Charon asked him why Dante wouldn't be with someone who was awesome. He wasn't sure whether Dante was good enough for Osprey, but regardless of that, anyone should want to be with Osprey if they fancied her. Dante, however, seemed very eager to continue steering the subject of their conversation towards the adventures he and Osprey had, focussing on some silly detail.

"Well, duh!" Charon said and he rolled his eyes. "The crafting bears healed Drake, my Lauren friend, and mean bears come at you with parted teeth and want to rip you to shreds." Did this guy know nothing about life, that he couldn't even come up with the answers to such simple questions? "I guess you never ran into a bear, or something, that you don't know this stuff." Charon's tone softened a little on the last reply, because he realised that not every wolf could be an awesome world explorer and bear-fighter like he was.

He couldn't help it.  He laughed, though it was warm, not mocking. "Well, generally I don't like to let them get to the point of trying to tear me apart in order to find out.  But I guess you are right."  

The mention of a Lauren was odd to Dante, and a while ago he may have questioned it. Living in BDP while Tytonidae was growing, however, had clued him into the concept of 'imaginary friends', and he wondered if this was such a thing.  There had been nothing like that for his siblings growing up, and he still found it rather strange. "I have never met a Lauren.  This Drake is one?  What is he like?"

Charon just rolled his eyes when Dante laughed and said that he didn't try to get to the point where they would tear him apart. He supposed that he'd been right; Dante had probably never even encountered a bear at all, so he hadn't a clue how to tell the good bears from the bad bears. Truthfully, Charon wasn't sure if there were any crafting bears that healed people outside of his and Osprey's adventures, but he wasn't going to tell Dante this, lest he might think that the adventures Charon and Osprey had were nothing more than child's play.

Dante seemed interested in Drake, so Charon explained, "Yeah, Drake's a Lauren. He grew fur after the crafting bears healed him, though, so he looks kind of like a small round fuzzy bear with a tail now. But it's been a while since that happened so he's pretty much over it now." Charon wasn't sure why Dante was so very interested in Drake, but whatever; he loved talking about himself and his things and adventures, so he didn't mind at all. "So anyway, what's being a pack leader like? I think I'd be a pretty good leader when I grow up." Charon smiled at Dante, hoping he would give Charon a peek into his secret leader-like life.

A small round fuzzy bear with a tail.... interesting view of a Lauren.  He'd never seen one himself, though, so who was to say that wasn't the usual?  Well, the usual for trolls healed by bears, at least.  Wow this kid had imagination, though Dante didn't doubt he'd had some help with the tales.

He could have kept that topic going, but Charon switched it up to once again focus on him... just this time, a topic he was much more willing to pursue.  Well, as far as he could, at least.

"It's pretty rough.  A lot of responsibility, and a whole lot of expectation.  But if you love your pack, it's completely worth it.  Not everyone is cut out to lead, but if you think you want to someday, I am betting you would make a fine one."  After all, why not?  Desire was half the battle, and the half that Dante had never really held.

The subject flowed from imaginary friends and fantasy adventures to leadership, a more mature subject that Charon was more interested in pursuing. He had considered lately that maybe he was growing a little old to be hanging out with a Lauren friend, and maybe he should focus on Adult Stuff rather than stay a kid forever, especially since he was pretty much his family's only hope and he needed to protect and take care of Levi.

Charon listened when Dante spoke about leadership, clearly interested in every detail of what he had to say. He nodded occasionally, and when Dante finished speaking he was swift to say, "I think I'd be a pretty good leader, because I'm pretty awesome." Speaking of which... "Is Osprey a leader too? I bet she's, like, the Alpha or something!" Osprey was pretty awesome, after all, and in Charon's mind that was pretty much the qualification anyone needed to be a leader. He knew that Thistle Cloud lead Stavanger Bay alone at the moment, and she could use the help; Charon was certain that he would make a really great leader in a couple of months.

He was pretty gung-ho about the idea, and a part of Dante wondered why he was so convinced already that this was where his life wanted to go.  Still, not everyone could be as indecisive as he was... he couldn't help but admire the sureness that Charon spoke with, no matter that his mind may change a dozen times before he got of age to actually carry any of it out.

"No, not an Alpha.  Not because she's not awesome.  But I don't think she wants to."  She had spoken of not being interested the one time, at least, and he doubted much had changed since then.  "Not everyone has the want to lead, and a pack needs loyal followers almost moreso.  Imagine a pack full of alphas, how terrible that would be!"  He looked forward to the day he could share leadership, but so far he was fine at the helm alone.  His betas were more than enough support.  He felt whoever took the role would need to naturally fill it, and so far no one had shown the inclination to do so.  Not to say he wasn't keeping an eye out.

It was very strange to Charon that Osprey didn't want to be an Alpha; he thought she would make a very good one. Charon was in the belief that wolves didn't just decide to be an Alpha or not... They were either cut out of the right material or they weren't. And Osprey definitely was. "That's weird," Charon said, clear on his face that he didn't understand her decisions at all. " 'Cause I think that Osprey's definitely an Alpha type of wolf." Just like me, he thought in silence, deciding to keep his last thoughts from Dante.

"So anyway," Charon said, looking over Dante. "Why isn't Osprey your mate if you think she's awesome?" That was a question that had never been answered, and Charon stared intently at Blacktail Deer Plateau's leader, clearly not going to let this one go until he received an answer, this time.

"People can surprise you."  He agreed that she would likely excel at it should she wish to rise to the challenge, but he hadn't wanted it himself, so he definitely understood her desire to keep out of the mess.  It tied you down, limited where you could go and what you could do.  "I doubt she'd be able to get away as much to see new places, though if she was Alpha.  She'd have too many Alpha duties."  Likely the heart of the issue, though that was one of Dante's more minor issues with the role.

Charon's other question, though, circled back and caused Dante to look sharply at him.  This kid had to be joking.  What was with the laser focus?  Her ears twitched with irritation, and he frowned.  "There's more to being mates than just thinking someone's awesome.  If wolves went around becoming mates with everyone they thought was 'awesome', they'd have so many it wouldn't be special anymore."  Well, at least, Dante imagined so for some.  He had a harder time meeting wolves he thought of as particularly great, but he was an oddity he assumed.

"Why are you so interested in it, anyway?"  What'd this kid know about mateships, let alone to be so pushy about one?

Charon hadn't even considered that one wouldn't be able to travel as much if they were Alpha; he only realised this now, and it made sense to him that it might be what stopped Osprey. She wouldn't be able to visit Charon and have awesome adventures all the time anymore, after all.

Dante seemed grouchy that Charon asked about Osprey and him again, but Charon didn't mind. It probably meant that there was something going on between the two. Something that Dante didn't want Charon to know about. Maybe he had a secret crush on Osprey that she knew nothing about? When Dante asked why he was so interested, Charon said, "I think it'd be cool if Osprey had pups because then I could visit them and play with them all the time." They would need someone to share adventures with, after all, and to learn about knighthood from. "And Osprey's awesome so I think she deserves someone who takes care of her good. Though I'm starting to think you might not be that good at it, considering you're kinda grumpy." Charon didn't say the words out of spite, and actually sounded kind of neutral as he said them; he didn't even consider they might make him come off as an insensitive butt.

"Well, you're a little nosy, so I guess we both have things to work on," he pointed out in return, without really pausing to think how it would be taken.  It wasn't the most dignified of responses, but it brought the ghost of a smile back to him.  He supposed he was defensive on the subject, but did he really pry so often with all he spoke to? His packmates must be exhausted.

The idea that Osprey should have children just so Charon could play with them was so childishly naive (and typically selfish) that Dante couldn't help but be a little amused despite his tested nerves. "Besides, I think she's more than capable of taking care of herself." Little did he know that his words would come back to bite him in only a short while. Appearances could be deceiving.

Charon didn't like that Dante called him nosy at all, and it was evident on his face, a grouchy and closed expression taking over his previously curious one. He clenched his jaw in irritation; who did this dude think he was, anyway? "Whatever," Charon said dismissively, trying to play it cool, even though it was very clear on his face that he wasn't happy at all with what Dante had said.

"I guess she'll just have to wait 'til there's an actually cool dude to come along and sweep her off her paws," Charon snippily commented when Dante said that Osprey could take care of herself, hoping to emphasise that Dante had definitely left the competition when it came to becoming Osprey's mate in Charon's mind. "I should probably go, y'know, do important stuff," Charon said, lifting his nose into the air matter-of-factly. He didn't wait for Dante to say good-bye and started to move downhill, intending to go home and be grumpy about Dante alone -- though Charon would stop and listen if Dante would say anything more to him.

my last post, unless Dante says something that requires reply. :3 thanks for the thread! ^^

Thank you!!

Seemed his words weren't going to be taken well, though nosy was hardly the worst thing one could be called.  More amused than worried about the offense he'd given (honestly, Charon deserved it in his mind), he listened as Charon discounted him from the running in his internal matchmaking, silently relieved to be ousted from that number.  At least if they ran into each other in the future, he wouldn't have to go through this spiel again.

"Good luck."  He responded, watching him go with interest before turning to leave himself.  "Nice to meet you too," he murmured, a smile breaking out on his face.  Perhaps he should have felt badly irritating a friend of Osprey's, but he'd never professed to be good with kids.  Especially those at Charon's age.  And he quite enjoyed that, for once, he'd managed to ruffle someone's feathers who meant little to him.  It wasn't often he got the chance to do so.  The fact that Charon had done the same back only made it all the more interesting an encounter.  He'd leave Sir Knight Starchaser to his Lady Nobless Firecomet in the future, though.