Grizzly Hollow Only Exception

<blockquote><i>This takes place after this <a href='http://relic-lore.net/index.php?showtopic=13841' target='_blank'>thread</a>. It is backdated a little, and it's assumed the pups are probably lolling around the den after a nap. (around early evening) They may have noticed Borden from a distance, and have heard mutterings of his return. Some powerplaying, as it seems more pratical for them to be outside the den. You can always tell me otherwise. :)</i>

Deep breaths, it seemed all she tried to think about on the way back to the den, not how Borden was behind her, not what their reactions would be, and definately not how to go about this. <i>Right, if only Jayse.</i> She couldn't think of anything else, the landscape didn't even appear to render in her head, but it wasn't like she needed to really see where she was going. She could have found it blind.

What she really tried to do was keep her body from going tense, and moving to quick. She held onto her happy thought, and started running what she would say when she saw their faces. It helped she had a nabbed another hare on the way back, and therefore her mouth was full. It would be a small distraction for herself, and possibly them. The worse thing, and what she greatly feared was them denying him. She was with a great heart hoping Elettra wouldn't be around to fuel the possibility. They should have one good opinion of him, before it was obliviated by another. Then they could decide what was right for them.

When the den came into sight she stopped, and turned her face to see Borden not far behind. Through her teeth she smiled, her lip raising her cheek. The words now or never came to mind, and she decided she should be the first to see them. It was with a quick trot she meandered over, seeing their pale figures. Whatever she may have felt in her heart she hid it, and confidently strode up to them as if nothing was new.

She dropped the hare down, and cleared her throat. She was silent for a pause, her tone felt like stone for the longest time. Finally she sat down, and a soft look was exchanged between the three. <b>"I'm not sure how much you know, but your father has finally come home. He has had a long journey because he was desperately trying to find Prosper. Now, he knows what has happened in his absence, and so I want you to give him a chance for all the lost time, okay?"</b> She paused to each one of them, though she had kept her tone sweet, there was a do this for me please to them. A small smile she bumped her nose to their foreheads, and then turned around to let Borden know he could come closer.</blockquote>

Gah, I'm so sorry this took so long. Will be making sure Bo posts soon, he's got a lot of work to do over the Christmas break but I'm making sure he gets his weekly post in at the very least <3

<blockquote>That he had returned was obvious; if nothing else, the scent was unmistakable. It was a curious thing, that scent. Trisden was young enough not to really experience 'nostalgia', but that was the feeling that she got upon inhaling that scent. Nothing else invoked that feeling of something lost, something gained. She had never gotten near to the body of Prosper, and wondered if it would have felt the same.

A deep part of her felt instinctual affection and trust towards that scent, but experience, and the torment of many months abandoned, fought harshly with that childish sentiment. Jaysyek was her mother, and her parent. The thing was, Trisden didn't <i>have</i> a father. She didn't need one.

She didn't need one.

<font style='margin-left:20px;'>Automatically her head came up at the sound of somebody approaching, and she smiled as she recognised her mother. Nudging Hocus' shoulder with her own, she wagged her tail and opened her mouth to greet her parent - when her eyes slipped beyond the familiar white form and landed on somebody unexpected. For a moment, she did not realise who it was, so distorted was her visual memory, so different was the wolf himself. Had she been so young as to have envisioned him differently? Certainly this wolf was not the one she imagined as her father. Distrust and uncertainty crept into her expression as her mother dropped the hare and began to explain.

Though she was wary, she listened with neither complaint nor interjection. She could tell that this was a big deal, even though her mother's manner was extremely controlled, how could it not be a big deal? This was the elusive father figure, back from the metaphorical dead. <i>He knows what has happened in his absence.</i> The lump in her gut grew a little heavier, as her thoughts passed not to the discovery of Prosper but the demise of another of his sons. Trisden could barely speak his name nowadays, so thick was her guilt. Faintly she swallowed, attempting to wash over that reference and all its implications - <i>Borden wasn't the only guilty party here when it came to family</i> - and instead tried to keep an open mind. Perhaps her determined blankness showed on her face, but it was the only way she would be able to keep herself from overreacting... but in what way, she didn't yet know. Blankness was better.

Silently she turned to stare at the wolf she understood to be her father, reserving her judgement. She could give him a chance.</font></blockquote>

<blockquote>
Where Trisden felt guilt, Hocus felt a full gamete of emotions, all of them negative. At first he was sad, he'd not been as close to Theo as he was to Trisden but he was still his brother and Hocus was coming to see that there was power in blood. His sadness gave way to worry as Trisden slipped into a deep melancholy. At first he'd tried to be conciliatory but quickly became frustrated when his childish inability couldn't understand what she was going through. For a while he had swung between worry and annoyance.

Then, during a deep period of annoyance, he realised something. He was next. Father, Prosper, Theo. There was a pattern. They were male and they were of his blood. Oh the creator was a cruel tormentor! Crueller still because the supposed death took so long to arrive. Days gave way to weeks and there were still no plagues of snakes or packs of bears. Finally, Hocus' anxiety gave out before his life did and he sunk into boredom. Where he had seen every tree as a threat, he saw them now as just trees. Clouds were once again just clouds, not the dead spirits he'd thought they were. Even if the creator was planning to kill him, he was trying to torture him and Hocus wouldn't give it the pleasure. In fact, he would inflict the worst insult he could: ignoring it.

But there is power in blood. Hocus was lazing around the den when his mother came over, purposefully trying to empty his mind of any worry as he did every afternoon, when he caught that bizarrely familiar scent. He had smelled it before, but he'd been too preoccupied to think about it until now.

<b>"Father,"</b> Hocus said slowly, <b>"B-Borden?"</b> That was his name, right? He stared past the hare, through his mother's legs, at the approaching wolf and he was reminded of his fate. <i>Oh, well played, Creator, well played.</i>
</blockquote>

<blockquote><i><3 no worries, it's busy this time of year.</i>

Mouth was clamped around a left over, and very worn deer antler. The points had already been eaten, and the base was all that was left. She knawed on it her eyes sometime tired, she had slept but didnt' feel very rested. She too was worried what was in store for their family. Aisling, and herself were the only ones to know about the incident at Jasper Rocks, but was this the pattern? None of them were meant to live, and one by one were being picked off? Yellow eyes shift to Trisden, and Hocus trying to make the action as nonobvious as she could. Eyes stared a long time, full of fear. Who would disapear now? White lids pulled over, and she quickly went back to chewing, the closest to the den. Her thoughts seemed to drown out the coming of her mother. Eyes looked up she caught the familiar face, and went to grin but never got the chance. Something was different, what?

Meekly her nose checked the air, and she detected the scent she had come across on one of her hunting trips. <i>Dad</i> or that's who he had been. Memories of him were fuzzy, and though happy they were short.

Now the reality of seeing him, the real him again seemed to make her feel more so in a haze. She listened attentively to what her mother said. She did not nod, or smile. No, she looked to her older siblings for example. Trisden said nothing, and Lettie couldn't detect what was going on inside her. Theo's demise had changed her, and she was a closed book. I Hocus actually spoke first saying the wolf's name. <i>Borden</i>. It was like hearing a word she wanted to say,right on the edge of her tongue, yet hiding in her head. He was their father, but such a stranger. Then she too looked past the legs of her mother to the wolf she had missed at one point, and didn't know what to think of now. He had left them, but it had to mean something if he had come back to them, didn't it?

Chest puffed out as she took in a large wisp of air, like it might help govern her choice to be the right thing. Whatever that may be, for liking or being mad both were elusive and she was merely puzzled on how things would be. Would he stay? Had he come back to see them...had he missed them? One more look to her mother she stared long wishing to pick up on her thoughts. When it appeared everyone was hiding behind a still picture, she put her attention to Borden.</blockquote>

<i>Apologies, lovelies.</i>

<blockquote>Borden followed Jaysyek nervously, mentally preparing himself for practically every scenario he could imagine: if the pups recognized him and accepted him, if he faced their curiosity of his whereabouts, if he was shunned, if they were unimpressed, if they asked him what had happened, if they asked about Prosper... His beloved paced over to the den they had claimed together so many months ago and respectfully he stopped at the edge of an invisible border while she greeted them one by one - Trisden, Hocus, and Arlette. The remaining three pups of their litter, both blood and adopted.

A weak smile lifted his features as he noted how much they had grown from the dark and tawny balls of fur he remembered them as. His tail wagged slowly and when Jaysyek nodded to him that it was okay to draw closer, he limped forward. They were all quiet until Hocus addressed him by name. <b>"Yes, Hocus,"</b> he replied quietly. A small chuckle was stifled and he smiled proudly to them before glancing to Jaysyek and sitting at her flank. The feeble grin that had settled on his muzzle turned into a reassured one when he glanced back to the youths. <b>"W-well,"</b> he stumbled over his words, rather unsure of what to say or do to break the ice between them. <b>"Goodness. You've all grown up on me... I remember when you three were only a few weeks old, but just... wow."</b> The breath that had been caught in his chest released over his tongue in an astonished sigh and his eyes watered slightly. <b>"I... I missed you all."</b></blockquote>

Well, what do you want from me?

<blockquote>The silence, and still facades could have been interpreted many a way. Trisden had been silent a lot lately, and it hurt to see her so introverted these days. The mother decided to take her still face, and no argument as a good sign. She would offer a thin smile to Lettie, but it was Hocus who spoke what they might have been thinking. She slowly nodded, her right ear twisted back to the steps of the male who spoke up, answering their son.

Eyes would lift in surprise to the pale, green of Borden's when he seated himself so close to her. A flutter of a smile pressed on her lips, but she was careful to look to the three Lyall children, gauging their reactions, and trying to suppress her own. It was to soon to let her own hopes get high. But, long had she waited for this day, and now for all of them to be together again...

Holding her tongue from the corner of her eye she would watch Borden while listening to his voice she'd missed so much. Hoping to reassure him, and them she bumped his shoulder playfully with her own. She had wanted to nudge his chin like she had done so many times, but held herself back from doing so. It would probably be too much for him; she was only trying to bridge the gap between father, and children. She did not add anything else, seeing if Trisden, Arlette, or perhaps Hocus would speak further. </blockquote>

(This post was last modified: Dec 30, 2011, 10:14 PM by Jaysyek.)

<blockquote>Stubbornly the girl clung to emptiness, fearing a tumult of emotion should she let the barrier drop even slightly. She did not even notice how her sister looked to her for guidance, so much effort it took to maintain blankness; her mother glanced her way, and Borden too, but she saw nothing but the nervous approach of a stranger in a familiar body. Or was it the other way around? He looked... smaller. Less authoritative. She understood it to be a side effect of her own growing up, but when she looked to her mother, sat beside Borden and thus offering the perfect opportunity for comparison, all she could see was a pillar of strength and heroism. It was surreal how two wolves, so similar in shape and height, could appear so very different.

Hocus said out loud what they were all thinking. Or, at least, what Trisden would have been thinking had she not so determinedly shut herself down, running on minimal processes. She gazed evenly at Borden as he stepped forwards and tentatively spoke, his meek voice a complete contrast to that which she would have expected, would have wanted - but it suited his submissive demeanour, in a disappointing way. This was her father? She had this weakness in her blood? For a moment that thought flashed angrily past her defences, and a flicker of hostility ran through her eyes before she clamped down again, in control. The disgust - at this wolf, at herself - settled somewhere in her stomach and sat there, festering. She lifted her chin fractionally, the only outward sign of a normal, headstrong Trisden. Only time would tell how long her blankness would hold.

The discomfort between the two sides screamed out loud, and she would have been embarrassed for Borden's sake had she been feeling any empathy at all. She would not have known what to do in his stead. Briefly her eyes narrowed at his simple words. Meaningless. They had been bereft of a father figure, and this was their compensation? So proud of her heritage and family, Trisden was distraught to think that this was the lineage she was to uphold. For a moment she looked to her mother, a faint desperation in her eyes - the emotion strong enough to overcome her defences momentarily - wondering why she had ever accepted such a feeble creature as her equal. Or had Borden once been a father to be proud of? What had happened?

Empathy dove in, seeing an opportunity and taking it. When she looked back to Borden, Trisden had softened marginally. She felt she could understand hardship, or at least being a victim of powers above you, and understood that it was unfair to think more of this wolf than he was capable. Her mother was strong but not immovable. Borden could only ever be so flawless, even if he was supposed to be a father.

<i>Her</i> father.

Her mouth opened, but Trisden wasn't sure what to say. Was she supposed to have missed him too? Was that the polite thing to say? But it would be a lie, and she could not dishonour him with it. They shared blood. She owed him that much.

Blankness won out. Unable to find anything worth saying - anything which was not plainly stating the obvious - Trisden kept quiet still, glancing to her mother for a moment for guidance and reassurance before keeping her eyes on Borden, trying yet to keep an open mind. </blockquote>

Well, balls. What was he to make of this? Borden certainly didn't seem like an evil spirit, he was too... awkward. He certainly smelt like his father and his mother, who knew him better than anyone, certainly trusted him. Hocus closed his eyes and his nose and just listened, but he even sounded like his father. Or at least, how he had imagined him to sound. Hocus, unlike Trisden, had never imagined his father to be anything particularly great, so his awkward speech didn't really baffle Hocus. What did confuse him was how his father could be here, after everyone had treated him like he was dead.

Hocus' confusion was evident on his face and he looked to his sisters for guidance. Trisden was unreadable, just like she always was nowadays, and Lettie didn't know what to do either. He unconsciously took a big breath in mimicry of Arlette, although that didn't calm him, and his sister's internal discord only added to his own. It was amazing that only a moment ago he had been so calm and yet now... Oh, this was the plan all along! He meant to confuse them, to throw them off by suspecting their real father so they wouldn't see the threat coming! Of course, the real threat would be smoother, an instant friend and companion, and wouldn't risk their displeasure.

Still a little unsure of himself, he started towards Borden. As he got closer, he marveled at how alike Borden and Trisden looked. That more than anything reminded him of how important blood was. He glanced tentatively back at his brooding sister but quickly returned his gaze to their father, having to raise his head only slightly to meet him in the eyes. This was the first time he had really noticed how big he was getting. <b>"Wow,"</b> Hocus said with a smile, looking down at the floor, <b>" I really have grown, huh? Must be all the sleeping I do."</b> He glanced over his shoulder again, trying to encourage his sisters closer. He was pretty sure Arlette would come, but he wasn't sure about Trisden so he tried to give her a reassuring smile.

<blockquote>She swifted through her memories, knowing he did not quite match the father she had remembered. She only decided the image of him could easily be warped even if he had not changed. The little girl mostly noticed how unkept, and uneasy he was. Was he scared? It seemed an absurd idea to her. Sure, they were bigger, changed by growig up, but what did he have to be scared of?

White skull titled sideways bemused by all this while her bright eyes lit with her questions as she looked him over. She realized she didn't care how long he'd been gone, or what he missed. He was home, and she had missed him too. A gentle whine tugged from her throat when he had finished speaking, and her tail beat steadily behind her. She wanted to go to him, but was slightly afraid to break him though he was still much larger than she was he just looked fragile. <i>Poor Dad.</i> She wanted to assure him it was okay now. She couldn't quite muster the courage to say or do. Mom was being awfully quiet, and she didn't understand why. Trisden who she had hoped would take the step in leading them to accept or deny him did absolutely nothing. It did not do well for Lettie. She could see the same questions in Hocus' face. What were they suppose to do? She blankly blinked at him, clearly having no answer either.

But she could see the wheels turning in her brother's mind, and watched as he loomed closer. Her right paw twitched almost daring to dart forward. Instead she gazed in silence wondering if Hocus was testing him to make sure he was real. He seemed so to her, and she didn't think their mother would bring him here if he was not. Upon Hocus' comment, a muffled giggle managed to slip from her throat, and she nodded her head in agreement. They were definately much, much bigger than when he had last saw them. Then meeting the eye's of older brother she grinned, and stepped beside him with his encouragement. She too had to look closely at the patterns of Borden's coat, the color of his eyes, and mostly his face. She smiled shyly when she was gawking what seemed like a time, then withdrew to her haunches, but not after bumping her nose to his chin. She did not speak, but her tail wiggled behind her, and she too looked back wondering if Trisden would come forward.</blockquote>

<i>Ffff... Last time I'll apologize. 8I Gonna be timely now since I struggled a bit with how to handle this thread.</i>

<blockquote>One by one the trio reacted as Jaysyek silently encouraged them forward and Borden's eyes went from one pair of eyes to the next. He took in the <span class='word'>pied</span> features of his daughter, observing how quiet she had grown from the energetic fur ball she had been, then turned to smile at Hocus' statement. There was no denying that the fallen leader was absolutely captivated. His being there now, before his children, reminded him that there was a duty to be reclaimed... <i>To be their father.</i> A long time ago, a part of him had been convinced that Raigo, Elettra, and Kiche was more than enough with Jaysyek's guidance; but the three youths before him, with what they had said and not said, stated otherwise. Frankly, that upset him.

He grimaced slightly but he was quick to manage a small smile, which he also shared to Jaysyek. If he had the chance to take and give back the time he had lost with his children, he would have taken it without question. The thing was... Time was always moving forward. If there was anything to be done now, it was to just... <i>be there,</i> he supposed. To let them know that he was always going to be there. For them. For their mother... their family and pack, even.

Not wanting to force them or have Hocus' silent beckoning go unheeded, Borden opened his mouth to say something but was instantly quieted as Arlette bounded forward. He instinctively shuddered but her simple touch of her muzzle to his chin made his tail sweep across the ground a few times before settling back around one of his hind limbs. It had surprised him, to say the least, but the gesture had overwhelmed him - in a good way, actually. A soft chuckle emerged from his chest and he warmly looked over the pups before him, grateful that they <i>seemed</i> to have taken to him.

He gingerly swept the tip of his nose over their ivory foreheads before glancing warmly to Trisden. <b>"It's alright, Trisden,"</b> he half-cooed, half-stated. <b>"You... You can stay there if you'd like."</b> Truthfully, he didn't and couldn't blame her. With how he carried himself these days, he wouldn't trust himself right away either. He still had things to work out - like properly grieving for Prosper, settling into his current rank within the pack, healing the sense of chaos that had settled in the folds of his memories, and straightening his relationship with the leader of Grizzly Hollow - but regaining his children's confidence was undoubtedly one of his top priorities.</blockquote>

Well, what do you want from me?