Blacktail Deer Plateau let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday

This is set directly after this thread.

Once the confrontation with the cougar came to a conclusion, Osprey wanted to cling to Hawkeye and, yes, even Saēna. She also wanted to hug Thistle not only for stepping in today but for everything she (and her mate) had done. Yet the puppy ended up doing none of these things. The party of four was on the far edge of Ravensblood Forest now and Osprey Jr. could actually see the plateau from here. Furthermore, her mother's and sister's scent trails were the equivalent of a yellow brick road leading the way home.

Forgetting everything and everybody else, the growing pup uttered a strangled cry of joy and broke into a sprint. She did not slow or stop until she found herself in the shadow of the plateau. Heart hammering in her chest, she shot up the towpath and finally ground to a halt when she reached the top. Overcome by emotion, she fell to the ground and rolled in the familiar-smelling dirt, kicking and screaming and laughing and crying all at once.

Tytonidae had been completely oblivious to her sister's disappearance. She had decided that Osprey Junior had been here the whole time, but only Ty could see her, because she had very great powers. It scared her a little, to think that her sister could do such things, but she couldn't help but feel special. She was the one who had been allowed to see her sister—nobody else. It was the same with her other friends, and Tytonidae was perfectly content with the way things were going with them. They had allowed her father to see them, but for the most part, they stayed invisible from anybody who was mean or who didn't believe her.

When she heard Osprey Jr. off in the distance, Ty thought nothing of it. With a spring in her step and her tail wagging excitedly, she bounded toward her sister with the same glee she always had. Upon reaching her writhing sister, Tytonidae leapt upon her and showered her in nips and licks and kisses before taking a step back. “Why y'so happy?” she asked, “And why’ya crying?”

I'm making an exception to my usual ban on role playing with myself for obvious reasons! This takes place directly following this thread. I'm going to be vague about its outcome. Also, let me know if you mind the slight power play, Remedy. :3

Peregrine was dog tired by the time the plateau came into view. He scarcely had time to register its familiar silhouette—a sight for sore eyes for someone who despised being away from home—before a childish scream pierced the air, startling him. Fatherly instincts kicked in immediately and he broke into a gallop that carried him quickly to the foot of the plateau and up the access trail.

The sight that greeted him at its top made Peregrine's heart stop for a second. He froze in place, his eyes fixing on an unmistakable pair of mismatched eyes seated just below two enormous black ears. He experienced a flashback to the day when he'd sorrowfully buried an identical set of ears. Those weren't her ears, he thought dumbly even as Osprey Jr.'s voice and scent filled his ears, nose and heart.

He sank to the ground with a quiet moan. "Osprey Jr...?" He almost didn't dare believe his eyes, ears and nose. Perhaps he was simply imagining her, just like Tytonidae did. He glanced at his charcoal smudge of a daughter, briefly wondering if she really could see things that weren't there. Or maybe she could see ghosts, like Pied. And perhaps this skill had rubbed off on him the other day.

Deciding he didn't care what miracle had set his lost daughter before him today, Peregrine suddenly lunged forward, scooping both his girls into the world's most heartfelt bear hug. A sobbing laugh wrenched out of him as he held them both close, feeling their warm and decidedly alive bodies squirming in his arms.

Ty appeared, the perfect unaffected complement to her sister's emotional paroxysms. "Ty!" the darker child cried when her sister's face appeared above her. She rolled onto her side, then onto her belly and sprang at her litter mate. Osprey slung her arms around Tytonidae's neck and smothered her face with licks even as she continued to giggle and whimper.

When a deep, familiar voice spoke from behind her, Osprey released her sister and turned to see her father standing there, a look of disbelief on his face. "Daddy!" Junior shrieked even as the Alpha male sprang forward to collect both little girls in a hug. Osprey squeaked happily as Peregrine mushed her together with Ty, her whole body shaking and wriggling and her tail whipping back and forth.

"I missed yous guys!" the pup croaked, alternately snuggling her face against Ty's neck and her father's chest. Tears, happy tears, brimmed in her eyes and began to stream down her dark cheeks. "Did you miss me?" she questioned, utterly unaware that her family had not only missed her but thought her dead and buried.

A sudden thought then occurred to her and she froze momentarily, two-toned eyes growing wide as she pulled back to gaze into her father's face. "Are you mad at me?" she asked in a suddenly small voice. "Am I in trouble?" Her large ears began to flatten even as the colorless sky rumbled ominously, threatening an encore performance of this morning's stormy weather.

What reached Amelie's ears first was the rumbling of the clouds above, she looked up while still laying on the ground, coiled up to the trunk of a tree thinking what would it feel like to turn a year old. Dark clouds melted into the sky, promising to spill their tears onto the plateu.

And they weren't the only ones, in the distance a blood chilling shriek could be heard, followed by yaps and whines. A young girl's voice was the producer of all these sounds. Thinking of Saena, Amelie sprung to her paws and walked towards the crying girl.

At first, by the angle she was coming from she could only see Peregrine's body and a smaller shadow squirming in his arms. He wondered why might Tytonidae might be sad. The words exchanged between father & daughter were muffled by the wails of the upcoming storm.

Slowly, she crept closer to the Alpha male, her eyes wanting to inspect the crying girl (who she still thought to be Ty) to know what was wrong. "Perry?" she asked softly, her eyes gleaming with concern. She wouldn't be offended if he told her to leave, she just wanted to lend a hand..

Ty wagged her tail, delighted that their father had decided to join them as well. “You see her too, Daddy?” she asked, quite shocked by this revelation. Before she got an answer, Peregrine was squishing them together and making it hard for Ty to breathe. Sputtering dramatically, and wriggling herself free from her father's embrace, she was confused as to why Osprey finally decided to show herself to Father again. Maybe she was bored of being invisible.

“Silly Oss,” replied Ty, “You ‘aven’t been gone long.” Because for Tytonidae, her sister had only been by her side a few hours ago. They were playing "chase the bunny" all morning, as far as she was concerned. But the mood changed, and Osprey suddenly flattened her ears and looked a wee bit terrified of their father. Tytonidae couldn't understand why Peregrine might be mad, but maybe Oss had done something between now and the last time Ty saw her.

When the crunching of paws caught Ty's attention, she popped out from behind her father and wagged her tail, seeing Amelie (assuming they've met at some point or another). “Amlee!” Ty cheered, amped up by all the emotional energy that was thick in the air.

Osprey's questions made Peregrine clasp her all the tighter, especially now that Tytonidae had wriggled out of his grasp. "I missed you so much," he breathed against her temple, trying not to sob in her ear. "I love you, Osprey. I'm not mad at you at all and you're not in trouble. I'm so glad you're home safe, baby girl."

Over her head, Peregrine saw Amelie tentatively approach, likely responding to all the hubbub. Ty ran to greet the adolescent, who looked at him with a bit of a perplexed expression on her face. When she didn't seem to notice Osprey Jr. at all, the Alpha male felt like a rush of cold water had been dumped over his head. Slowly, he loosened his grip on Junior and let her stand on her own feet, his heart pounding in his chest, echoing the thunder overhead.

"You can see her, can't you? Can't you?" he demanded in a breathy whisper, eyes boring into Amelie's face.

Junior let out a sigh of relief when her father held her even closer and assured her that he wasn't mad. She then slid out of his grasp when Amelie materialized. Even as the Alpha male questioned the juvenile, Osprey turned and smiled at Amelie. She didn't pay much mind to her father's nonsensical question as she bounded after Ty to greet the older youth with a whooped, "Amelie, I'm back!" She was still unaware that she had effectively risen from the dead.

As she stepped closer she saw that in fact Ty was there, though..she wasn't crying. She leaned to greet the girl, a blank and confused expression on her face. The whole scene was a bit surreal, Perry was curled up a couple of steps away where a girl's voice could be heard.

It was true that in fact she had not even noticed Osprey's glorious return, it was like something inside her mind had blocked the idea that the dark furred being clutched around Peregrine's arms was in fact the girl they had buried a few weeks ago.

Peregrine's question was even stranger, see what? she thought while she looked at the male's face with a trace of worry on her yellow orbs. It was not until Junior adressed her directly that Amelie noticed her. Her eyes focused on her nose, her mismatched eyes and her large ears --that still looked big on her even after all she had grown. There was no doubt in the young girl's mind that Osprey was standing in front of her.

It was her.
"I do! I see her!" she cried out while lunging on the child to cover her with a layer of her own kisses and nuzzles of her own. "You really are! But..how?" she murmured almost to herself, now that she had returned she wasn't about to put a damper on their celebration to question where she had appeared from.

A cry and a shriek reached Blue ears and she hurried as fast as her paws would go towards the alpha family tears already on her face for want of fear and her blood frozen cold and chilled in her veins. What else could have happened to make such terrible things happen to them. She stumbled a few times anxious to get to the sound and as she made it, she saw Perry hugging something with large black ears and she laid her own back tight to her head and she whined softly could it really be such a miracle.

She stayed back and was content to just watch unsure how her precence would be taken seeing as how she had all but told them Junior was dead though in her defense she had told them it could not be her and she had continued looking for her after everyone gave up she and Dante had continued their search. She stared at the little family happiness bursting from her chest.

This is probably my only post if this doesn't become a pack meeting since Saēna is a huge sulky bitch and it makes the most sense with me having been unable to post to it earlier. I'm also making the assumption that @Hawkeye is/was present (Sammi, let me know if that's not okay).

She had been elated when the white cat left them, and even moreso because she thought she had done it. That's what the creatures in her dream had said, right? I am You, the weird bird had said, and We can right all wrongs. Saēna had not allowed herself to believe that the dream was real, since she equated such silly notions with Tytonidae (who was her new favourite thing to hate ever since the founding of the dead fox), but it seemed impossible to ignore now.

Junior was alive. The bear in her dream had told her so and it was true. The dark girl bounded ahead of them now, still stronger and taller than Saēna but no less puppyish for it. She strolled quietly ahead of Hawkeye, but her pleasure was evident in her high steps and the swaying of her tail. No doubt her dam was in good spirits as well. She thought she might be happy with things forever... Until they reached the top of the plateau, and met the others.

First, Tytonidae came bounding forward. Having scapegoated the dreamy pup for no reason other than her strangeness, Saēna took a menacing step forward, her hackles prickling... Until Peregrine swept forward and pulled both girls into an embrace. Awash in emotion, Saēna stared on, silently asking herself why Ty was being given all the attention. She hadn't done anything -- Saēna and Junior had fought a mountain lion to bring O.J. home!

(More appropriately, the adults had scared it off, but the story was already warped in her brain).

But the question answered itself when she recalled her discussion with Kisu. I'm not one of them, she reminded herself. She sulkily resigned to the thought that her foster father and mother would never give her the same unconditional love they had for Junior and the broken Tytonidae, and that was when the littlest pup began to walk away at the edge of the gathering. It was pathetic and childish to expect any attention, and she should have just been happy to have Junior back and to have helped make that a reality... But Saēna's reality was one where she was celebrated too, rather than standing on the sidelines watching other pups being cuddled while she had no blood parents present to celebrate her life.

Back? Back from where? Tytonidae didn't quite understand, but that was nothing new. She had thought that Osprey understood, though, which confused her even further. How could she be back? Maybe she just meant she was back to being visible. Yes, that was right. Oss was just playing around, acting like she'd been gone for a really long time. Maybe that was why she had told Ty to keep it a secret.

Tytonidae didn't even register that Saena was there, so wrapped up in the fact that Osprey had had a change of heart. She did, however, notice Beedubs, and Ty gave the girl a happy grin and wiggled her bum along with her tail.

Peregrine's breath rushed out of him in a ragged whoosh. "You can see her," he repeated dumbly, watching as his daughters ran to greet Amelie. She isn't a mirage. He closed his eyes, savored that truth for a moment, then reopened them to find Blue Willow and Saēna arriving from different directions (in front of and behind him, respectively).

"Junior's al—back!" Peregrine blurted to them, unaware of his pale daughter's role in Osprey's rescue. He'd almost said alive but he didn't know if it was appropriate to let Osprey know they'd all presumed her dead, at least not right now. "We were wrong," he added simply, beaming at Blue Willow. He didn't even think of blaming her for the mistake; he was just so happy that it had been a mistake.

Overcome by emotion, Peregrine whooped and went around, planting a kiss on every wolf's face, including Saēna's (he was too overjoyed to notice her sulk). He then threw back his head and announced to the whole of the plateau, "Junior's back!" He wondered if some of the wolves here might think him mad or delusional, a thought which elicited a bark of giddy laughter.

After a few more celebratory smooches, Peregrine remembered that he'd left Fox at the foot of the plateau. He'd meant to call for Blue Willow and Atticus as soon as he set food on his home territory, then... well, this had happened. She was probably standing down there, wondering at the fuss and the delay. Despite pulling a quick oh shit! face, he couldn't stop grinning.

Running to the plateau's edge, he flagged down Fox and jerked his head, indicating that she should come hither. He then raced back to the small gathering and announced, "Willow, I'm going to call you and Atticus in a little bit to talk to you about something. Then I'm probably going to arrange a pack meeting or maybe a hunt to celebrate Osprey's return," he finished with a glowing smile before turning and heading toward the heart of the territory, Fox, Osprey Jr. and likely others presumably in tow.

Amelie was the first to question the how of Osprey's disappearance and return. "I falled in the river and washed up far away and Ragnar and Thistle helped me!" she said loud enough for all those gathered to hear (except for Peregrine, perhaps, who was dancing around like a madman). "Then I talked to Mees and he helped me figure out stuff and then I left the bay and tried to come home and a biiig kitty tried to eat me and mama and Thistle and Saēna rescued me!" she finished, shooting the pale pup a beaming smile even as she skulked onto the scene.

Before she could ponder the fact that she'd effectively run out on Thistle and the others like a little ingrate, her father was ushering her in the direction of the rendezvous site. "We should have a feast for mama and Saēna!" Osprey Jr. chirruped as she fell into step at her father's heels. "Right, Aunt Willow?" she said, then cried, "I missed you so much!" at her aunt. She threw herself at the Alpha female's legs a moment, then grinned up at her and ran after her retreating daddy.