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The birds had gone from whispering dire secrets to mocking him in a matter of days, ever since he had first laid eyes on his children. "You'll never see them again." they told him. "They'll never know you as their father." and the words haunted him, drove him away from sleeping and eating. All he could think about were the two children that he had met, the ones that he hadn't yet, and the fact that he may never ever see them. Unable to stand it any longer, Conri had decided to take a chance that he may never have before. Twilight Vale was gone, it had been gone a long time now, but he was well aware that Crimson Dreams had taken it's place, that it was the place that he could find his children if he so pleased.
His approach of their borders was a slow one, moving in such an odd way that not even he could really understand it. He was in his Optime form but his body was hunched over in a broken way, using his one arm to walk as if he were on all fours. It was easier on his weak body, conserving what energy he had left, no matter how uncomfortable it seemed at first. The red male sniffed carefully at the borders, checking for signs that someone might have been near, and when satisfied that he would go unseen, he stopped. It might not have been the smartest choice to even go near the lands but Conri wasn't stupid enough to enter beyond the borders.
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[html] He'd gotten lost again, at least sort of. Salem had decided rather surreptitiously that he was going to go and find Haven, who had ventured off earlier to explore and had started out without much consideration to the weather, who knew, or who cared. Everyone was busy once again doing their own little things, so that left him to wander aimlessly. Despite the snow that had fallen, the worn in paths made by the rest of the pack were there, so he technically couldn't have gotten too lost in the middle of it, but he did when no distinguishable markers stood out to him.
So he decided that he'd keep going… until he hit that same patch along the borders. Memories of what had happened the last time he was there surfaced easily, but there were no signs of that fiery-coloured woman that had been so mean towards him. In fact, he didn't really see anyone, though he wasn't exactly taller than the drifts of snow around him. At best, Salem was nothing more than a furry pair of ears at the borders. But sure enough, as he stood there, he heard slow footsteps coming from somewhere around him, and he frantically turned in a circle to figure out from which direction before running out a bit further to see who it was.
He totally expected it to be his mother when he peered through the forestry, but it wasn't her figure or tall form that he picked up. It took him a moment to realise that he wasn't running out towards his mother, or his other mother, or someone that he knew in the slightest at all. His mother wasn't a reddish colour, so his brain hit the brakes and the boy slipped to an abrupt stop, tensing with mixed emotions that he had just run out to greet the wrong person. With his eyes locked squarely on the three-legged, awkwardly standing fellow that he had never seen before, he couldn't even stammer out a squeak to him. [/html]
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It was a faint flash of black against the stark white of the snow that grabbed his attention before anything else. From where he stood, though, he could not make out what exactly it had been. He had seen it for only a moment and easily deducted that it couldn't be something that could bring harm to him, not even in his weakened state, and more importantly that it wasn't one of the older wolves of the pack. Slinking low, knees practically against the ground, pushed deep into the snow, Conri waited and watching. Jade eyes moved carefully over the bumps of snow, back and forth as if pacing, until the moment that he could see the creature in full. He was practically running at him, at least for a short moment, when the young pup likely realized that he was running at a stranger.
Conri wasn't entirely sure what to think or do, aside from examining the pup from where he crouched. The boy smelled of Naniko and the other pups and though he didn't want to assume, he could only think that the child was one of his own. Black like Soran, which made the sickly red male smile faintly. "Helloo.." He said finally, quietly, and made no motion to move toward the stunned child. Instead, Conri shifted his weight back and settled his rear to the cold and snowy ground, leaving his legs stretched out in front of him and settling his single arm down into his lap.
"I'm Conri.." He told the boy quietly, unsure still, but knowing not to bring up the fact that he was, or might have been, the child's father. "I know Naniko." It might have been a horrible thing to do, to use his mother's name, or leader's name if it were the case, to gain his trust, but Conri couldn't think of much else to do aside from that.
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[html] The man made no snide remarks, said nothing cruel, and didn't make any fast actions that would have spurred Salem into turning around and running away. He wasn't about to let himself get chucked into that lake a second time if he could help it! Eyeing him uneasily as he sat back, the dark-haired D'Angelo traced the outline of his figure, lingering over the missing limb for a moment before shuddering with the chilling wind that came over him. And then he introduced himself—a name that didn't mean anything at all to him but should have—and said that he knew Naniko.
That didn't make things all peachy, but it did get Salem to take a couple of careful steps towards the larger wolf. His little nose quivered as he tried to smell him from such a distance, trying to determine whether or not what he said was true. But Salem couldn't tell whether or not he was telling the truth, because he was simply too far away and under the impression that like his mothers could smell lies out of his siblings that he could as well. Peering curiously upward, he debated his next course of action. He considered opening his mouth and asking him something, but didn't. He didn't know what to ask him, not really sure what kind of question he was supposed to ask. It didn't help that he was shy, either. [/html]
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He was a quiet boy, Conri decided in a few short moments, because all of the experience that he had ever had with children, they always seemed to talk a lot. Except one. "You look like your grandma, kind of." Conri informed the boy quietly, nodding his head very faintly. "And your Uncle Khaden." He added, noting to himself the fact that the boy even acted a bit like Khaden. His brother never liked to talk much when he was younger. "But you probably never met Khaden, I guess." He hadn't seen hide nor hair of his brother for quite some time, but the experience of raising him for a while seemed to be doing some good. He'd just treat this boy the same way as he had Khaden, having a full conversation with him even if he never once responded.
"Is Savina nice to you?" He asked suddenly, head cocked to the side very faintly. He had to wonder, though he did doubt she was mean to him at all. Her temper that day, though Conri had been deserving it, made him wonder if the woman could just snap at any time at all. "And Haven and Mati, are they good to you?" He could go on and on with questions, most likely, but he stopped there. It wasn't really like he was expecting and answer anyways.
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[html] Despite his unwillingness to be right up in his face like he imagined his siblings or other children would have been, the red-haired male continued to speak. Salem really hadn't met anyone who had been perturbed by his inability to hold up his end of a conversation, but it wasn't like he couldn't talk. He could… but he just didn't know what to say most of the time. But the man spoke of Soran and some Uncle Khaden he hadn't the faintest clue about, before delving into questions that Salem could answer easily.
Was Savina nice to him? Well, she had saved him from being an icicle, so he nodded. He liked her well enough. Were Haven and Mati nice to him? He shrugged, but ultimately nodded. They all got along, so he considered that them being nice to him. They all did their own little things and so far, hadn't been on any real big adventures together. In fact, he hadn't really even spent that much time with Mati as he had with Haven. As the cold snow bit the bottoms of his tender feet, he shuffled uncomfortably, and only waited to listen to anything more the man would say to him. [/html]
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What he received in returned to his questions were nods, though the second one seemed a bit unsure. Either way, it made the thin red male smile just a bit and nod his own head. He supposed that Naniko would never let the pups around someone who could be potentially dangerous, which was why Conri knew he'd have to be sneaky to see them, but that was assuming that she even knew about what Savina had done that day. Conri took a few quiet moments to watch the young man, even as he shuffled in place, and frowned at himself a bit before speaking up. "You can sit on me to keep your feet warm, if you want." But Conri didn't honestly expect the child to just come over and plop himself on to a stranger. "Or I can find something for you to sit on." What, he wasn't sure of.
"I'm your grandma's son." He said finally, an admittance, even if the boy didn't know it. Khaden, though quiet, had been a brilliant little one, so if this one was anything like his Uncle, he would at least figure out that they were related somehow. It might not have been the best thing to do, hinting at the fact that he was the boy's father, but he didn't really imagine that he'd go running off to Naniko babbling about meeting his dad. "I used to live here but it was called Twilight Vale then."
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Lulu is standing on my arm. D:
[html] Salem shook his head at the suggestions, as though to insist that he would be fine. Someone would probably call for him eventually, or find him, something to that sort. But he didn't want to get cuddly and he didn't want Conri to go away either. He wasn't boring and that fact alone intrigued Salem. He said that he was grandma's son, whatever that was, and a blank expression crawled onto his face for a moment, but passed as he spoke about living there. As if to really make sure that he was where he was supposed to be, Salem peered back in the direction he imagined the mansion to be, but couldn't see it for the trees and the hills.
But when he turned back to look at Conri, his face was filled with concern. Why didn't he live there now? He wanted to ask the question, started to open his mouth, but it only hung open dumbly. He couldn't get the words to come out this time, even though he didn't understand why. Letting his gaze drop sadly, he looked at his cold feet. This was all confusing to him. Conri seemed to know him, know about everything, but Salem didn't quite understand all of it. So he tried to gather his thoughts once again, pondering Conri's connection to everything. [/html]
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Conri gave a very faint nod of his head in return to the boy's answer to his suggestions, not wanting to pressure the boy in to anything. He'd have to keep in mind the fact that it was cold and snowy out, the fact that the boy was standing out in the middle of it, and send him off back home after a while. He decided to stay for the time though, to continue his visit, because he wasn't entirely sure if he would ever see the pup again. It was a frightening thought, because he knew that as soon as he left his heart would ache and he would miss them all, but it was something he had to accept. He'd missed them before, even before they were born.
"I got sick and had to leave." He informed the child, having taken note of the concerned look that had settled there on his face. "I didn't want my sickness to hurt anyone else, so I left, but I'm getting better now." He liked to think that he was getting better, anyways.
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[html] So maybe he was bound in with all of this somehow. If he was related to his grandmother, then maybe he was related to his mother. Or himself. Or his siblings. Maybe this was just some random relative that he didn't know anything about. One that that had been sick, or so he gathered as the werewolf spoke onward. So if he wasn't sick any more… maybe he would come back. Come home, if that's what the territory was to him. This was the very look that seemed to creep into Salem's eyes when he drew them back to Conri's face, and he wagged his tail approvingly. Happy, even. He was getting better, which was good!
Of course, let it be noted that Salem hoped he didn't get sick from anything any time soon, because he wouldn't have wanted to hurt anyone either. Somehow he had established that in the mess of the world around him and not just because Conri was saying it. Others had been sick, or at least sounded that way. Harsh coughs, sneezes; they were thoughts loud and sometimes abrupt and that was enough to spook him. Stumbling a little closer, Salem reached out to paw him with a smile, glancing between where they were and the direction from whence he had come, as though to suggest what he felt. [/html]
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Conri had never felt such a great sadness in his heart as he did the moment that the boy came toward him, as if to ask him to return home with him. He hadn't cried in so long that the tears that threatened him burned as they came, though Conri was able to hold him at bay and for a moment could only give a sad shake of his head. "I can't come back." He told the boy finally, voice shaking with sadness at the fact. "I made some people angry when I was sick, I didn't mean to though, and now I'm not allowed to come back." He hadn't meant to, right?
"I guess it's okay to tell you.." They were quiet words, more-so trying to convince himself than anything else. Naniko had openly told Mati and Haven who he was, so why not this one? "I'm your father." Would he even know that he had a father? "Your grandma, Soran, can tell you about me if she hasn't already." It was sad to think that they would have to learn about their father through their grandmother all because he had ruined any chance of watching them grow. "Maybe I could visit you though?" He'd gladly risk his life to see the boy, even if only now and then.
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A frown came to the forefront of Salem's expressions, not liking both the fact that Conri couldn't come back and the fact that he seemed so sad. Even his eyes seemed a little glossier than they had moments ago, though for whatever reason Salem did not realise. His voice shaky, his actions a little bit watery… Salem hung his head a bit, unsure of how to act or react to such a thing. And that was seemingly the point when he shared a little bit of information that made the boy look at him again and his cant head to the side. His father? He had no idea what a father was, he wasn't so sure he had ever heard the word until then. His life consisted of those in the pack he was familiar with, but his immediate world did not go beyond the two females who cared for him and his littermates. His mothers and his siblings.
But all of that fell out of his head the moment when Conri mentioned visiting again. A smile reapplied itself across Salem's dark features and he bobbed his head enthusiastically — he'd like that very much! This Conri guy was interesting and not boring by any notion and despite having a mental note to ask his grandmother about the red-haired man, he already wanted to know more about him and his so-called fatherly connection to the picture. He even considered asking his mother, but grandma popped into his head faster because of her mentioning.
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