the things you can't have
starboy
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Never before had the boy stumbled upon another pack. He was exploring the mountain that stood not far from Stavanger Bay, when he noticed the markings of another wolf on its border. Charon, at the age of five months, was now about as tall as an adult wolf, but his awkward proportions and lean frame betrayed that he was still very much a pup. He stopped when he came upon the clear scent of another wolf, a wolf who had claimed these lands as their own. He instinctively knew better than to cross such a border; it’d be like another stranger crossing Thistle’s markings in Stavanger Bay. Trespassing was a serious offence.

The boy lingered near the borders, walking back and forth while he sniffed up various places with stronger and less strong markings. He had never met this wolf who’d marked these borders, he was pretty sure, and Charon did not know what was custom at another’s borders. Did you just wait to see if another wolf would approach, or call? Or was either of those two options rude and should he just turn around and leave? Standing in doubt, Charon stared up at the mountain, which intrigued him even more now that he knew he couldn’t access it.
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FitzDutiful was on his way down the mountain when he noticed the scent of another wolf on the air. Curious as to who would be at his borders without announcing themselves, he wandered in that direction. As it was, the direction he was heading was towards the bay and the sea - the way that he wanted to go. It was the one area that he hadn't been to in order to explore the plant life that grew that side of the mountain.

As he approached, the white gangly looking pup caught his eye and Fitz walked towards him with a neutral approach in his body. The youngster wasn't doing anything wrong and FitzDutiful didn't want the mountan's pack to gain a reputation of being unapproachable. "Hello there," he said when he got close enough to see the speckles on the white-one's fur.

"Is there a way that I can help you?"
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Unsure how fast another wolf would take offense in his presence, Charon lowered his body a little, tucking his tail between his legs and lowering his head upon the approach of the other wolf. He did not exude dominance, but Charon knew that if another wolf visited the Bay's borders, they were expected to pay their proper respect, and instinctually he did not want to cause any trouble for himself so submitted properly.

"Uh, hi," Charon said after he had been greeted by the other wolf, who then asked how he could help him. Charon wasn't really sure how he could be helped, and felt a little dumb for a moment while he tried to think of a reason. "The stars told me that cool wolves live here," Charon lied, "And in a dream I went here," more lies, "So I wanted to come see with my own eyes." Well, the last bit wasn't a total lie, at least. Charon really wished all of the aforementioned was true, because it would be so cool if the stars would speak to him and if he'd have cool dreams like Saena.

Charon hesitated a moment before introducing himself; he hesitated to give his real name and pack, but the other wolf seemed friendly enough so far and he didn't want to upset the new neighbours. "I'm Charon from Stavanger Bay."
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FitzDutiful was surprised, but pleasantly so, to see the young male at his borders pay the proper respects. It was seemingly rare for one to do so and FitzDutiful was starting to find that he wanted wolves to respect his pack authority. For them not to made him doubt that they took his pack seriously. They may have been a bunch of misfits at the start but he felt as though they were slowly, but surely, moulding together well.

"Nice to meet you Charon," he replied, indicating that the submission had been accepted and the young male was free to relax. "I'm FitzDutiful. the Alpha of Silvertip Mountain. It's nice to meet a fellow naturalist." It was the only assumption FitzDutiful could make. After meeting Spectra who also followed the stars, any one else who did so must also be of the same calibre, surely.

"I was just heading towards the Bay, in hopes of learning what nature was like in comparison to here. Seems almost too coincidental that you're here to tell me about it instead." With that, he sat, making it plain he wasn't going anywhere fast.
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FitzDutiful was quite a long name, and Charon quickly shortcutted it to Fitz in his mind. Maybe Dutiful was his last name, or a nickname, like "Fitz the Dutiful". Either way, Fitz was a lot shorter. Charon's eyes widened a little as FitzDutiful said he was The Alpha of Silvertip Mountain. What luck that he would meet with the leader of the pack on his very first visit here! He mentally noted to tell Thistle about the pack when he got back home.

When FitzDutiful mentioned it was nice meeting a fellow Naturalist, Charon burst with excitement. "You're a Naturalist too?!" he said, unable to contain his joy. "Cool!" And the Silvertip Alpha had intended to visit the Bay, too! What a coincidence; Charon would love to explain what he could.

When Fitz sat down, so did Charon, hastily mimicking the motions of the Alpha. It looked like FitzDutiful wanted him to start telling about the Bay's nature, though Charon didn't really know what nature was like on a mountain like Silvertip, so neither was he very sure what was different. But, well, he decided just to start somewhere: "Uhh, we have a lot of shores where you can just run into the ocean, which is pretty cool. And there's a lot of forest, oh! And a waterfall in the middle of the forest which is super cool and it's called Shield Maiden's Falls because shield maidens are female wolves who fight and stuff," well, something like that, anyway, "And we have bees and honey too." Charon inquisitively looked at FitzDutiful to see if that was enough information, if he should go on talking, or if Fitz had specific questions.
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FitzDutiful looked at the white individual as he started telling FitzDutiful all about the different aspects of the bay. He couldn't help himself and started laughing. "I gather you're also an aspiring naturalist?" he asked, pretty sure that the question was going to be yes. It definitely seemed like the youngster had the energy required to undertake trades at his age. As it was there was just too much generic information.

"Let's try this a different way. Come for a walk with me. We'll head deeper into the mountain and you can see what our territory is like. I'll show you what we live with and, as we walk, you can tell me your thoughts on how different it is?" He hoped this would help direct the boy's enthusiasm into a more stream-like path. He realised, belatedly, that he had possibly expected too much from someone so young. His second interaction with children. They had both been interesting to say the least.
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FitzDutiful asked him if he was an aspiring Naturalist too, which wasn't entirely true in Charon's mind, because... "I am a Naturalist!" 'Aspiring' things was for wussies, and Charon knew quite a lot about naturalism-things as it were, he thought, so he considered himself to be a full-fledged Naturalist already, no matter what anyone else said or thought.

Charon didn't gather that his little blurb about the Bay wasn't very helpful, too excited that he was invited into the territories of the mountain pack by its Alpha. He felt pretty cool and important! "Wow, cool!" he excitedly said, tail wagging, while he took the Alpha's invitation to cross the borders into Silvertip Mountain territory for a tour. A tour! Given by the Alpha himself! Things didn't get much more exciting than this!
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He didn't think anything of Charon saying he was a naturalist. That could very well be true, FitzDutiful generally assumed others were aspiring for he didn't often meet those who had already gained a trade. "Come along then," he said as they began a walk into the lands.

FitzDutiful picked a trail that headed upwards, towards the plateau of the mountain that the wolves held their meetings at. It would offer a good view of the Great Bear Wilderness and Kintla Flatlands, though it didn't allow a viewpoint of the sea. FitzDutiful was sure there was such a path through to that side, he had just yet to explore the right cave. As they walked, the pair would walk through a few such caves that plunged them into darkness before opening up into light.

He listened carefully to everything, anything, that Charon had to say as they made their way through the rocky terrain, sparsely decorated with trees roots in the caves, snow, and bracken.
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Charon excitedly followed when the Alpha told him to come along. His tail wagged in uncontained excitement while he looked around as they trailed through Silvertip Mountain's lands. He craned his neck left and right to see all of the things the territory offered; almost all of it was super much different from Stavanger Bay, so how could he ever spot all of the differences? There were hardly any similarities.

"Wooow, this is sooo different from my home," Charon excitedly told FitzDutiful as they walked. "We don't have a lot of mountains and stuff, and the ones that are there aren't very climbable at all." He thought of the cliffs that rose on the sides of Stavanger Bay's territories, which were so straight that you couldn't find a path up.

When they passed through a cave, Charon said, "Wow, it's so dark in here! That is so cool! I bet there's all sorts of trolls and dragons and wererats living in caves like these! But don't be scared, I'm super brave!" His youthful mind drifted off the subject of Naturalism here, his imagination taking over as he was plunged into the darkness of the cave. But despite his tall stories, Charon made sure to stick close to FitzDutiful as long as they were in the caves, and would only take a bit more distance again once they were sent back into the brightness of day. "You never think of how nice it is to see things until you stopped seeing tihngs," Charon observed, his voice filled with childish wonder, as he was a child that always longed to discover and learn about everything and anything and how it all worked.
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Another thread soon!

Charon seemed excited and FitzDutiful was pleased. This was the first official tour of his land that he had given and it felt good for another wolf to appreciate it in the way that Charon was. It was obvious he was excited and his excitement infected FitzDutiful. It also became apparent, however, that FitzDutiful wasn't going to be learning anything about the Bay from the youngster. It was entirely possible he had just expected too much - it was easy to overestimate a young wolf. Yet the Bay wolf appeared quite knowledgeable, reminding FitzDutiful of himself with his philosophical statements that sounded so worldly and yet came from naivety sometimes.

For a while they sat, FitzDutiful patiently explaining the different plant life that they could see. He pointed out the various trails, the lands in the distance and explained what he knew of what they were and how long it took to arrive at said locations.

When time had run its course, FitzDutiful turned to Charon, "We'd better get you back down. You probably need to be getting home and share everything you've learnt. If you keep an eye out on the caves roof as we pass through then you'll see what I was saying about tree roots showing you which caves are safe to pass through." Rockslides were nothing to joke about.

Upon arriving at the border of Silvertip Mountain, not far away from where they had met, FitzDutiful asked another question of his visitor, "Do you think it would be okay for me to come visit at the Bay sometime and you can show me your home?". With his answer in tow he sat and watched the sun set below the horizon.
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yup! :) thanks for the thread, i'll go ahead and archive this. ^^

Charon listened patiently as FitzDutiful explained various things about Silvertip Mountain's flora. It was hard to keep focussed sometimes, and a time or two Charon drifted off, staring and philosophising about how the plant had been created and why it was shaped the way it was. Then he would be reminded that FitzDutiful had already begun explaining about a new plant or other nature phenomenon and he'd quickly shift his attention back to his teacher, bobbing his head enthusiastically while he listened.

When FitzDutiful mentioned they should get Charon back off the mountain, he nodded. He'd grown tired, though had been afraid to admit so because he didn't want to look like a baby that needed a nap.

When they passed the caves FitzDutiful mentioned (which were, of course, safe; otherwise they wouldn't pass through them), Charon did notice the tree roots on their ceilings. "I see them!" Charon excitedly blurted out while he looked at the roots, studying them to make sure he would remember later on.

They eventually reached the borders, and it was time to say goodbye to FitzDutiful and his super cool mountain. The Alpha asked if he could visit, and Charon was excited to say, "Of course!" He wasn't sure if Ragnar and Thistle would think it okay for him to bring in a visitor, but then again, FitzDutiful was an Alpha and Osprey had also visited that one time, even if it had been because she was hurt. Surely, it would be okay.

"Thanks for the tour, see ya later!" Charon called after FitzDutiful with excitement thrumming in his voice, and he started his way home to Stavanger Bay, ready to share the exciting stories about what he had learned from a real Alpha.