Okay then, Oskar thought, she was obviously conducive to his offer to help locate her missing father, if her wagging tail was anything to go by.  It also appeared to him that Jane was grinning in a wolfish sort of way.  Or maybe this was due to the fact that with all those teeth, she<i>always </i>looked as if she was grinning.<br/><br/>Simply shrugging at her initial question regarding communication, he hated to admit how envious he was of her continued ability to “speak,” no matter what form she was in.  Not only was she still able to understand all that he said, but she would respond accordingly.  Oskar, on the other hand, only possessed the understanding part of the equation while in golden eagle form.  The responsive side of things?  Not so much.  Well, unless he was<i>skreeing </i>to another golden eagle, or perhaps another bird of prey.<br/><br/>It also confounded him that not even her wolf lips moved when she spoke to him telepathically.  He viewed this as a ridiculous thought, but he thought it nonetheless.  After all, Jane’s human lips never budged an inch when she voiced her thoughts.  So what was he expecting from her wolf persona?  With no imminent answer, he listened to the rest of her discourse.<br/><br/>What happened next touched his very essence profoundly.  Jane ventured forward and nuzzled his hand with her snout.  If that wasn’t a sign of acceptance or affection, he didn’t know what was.  And as far as he was concerned, her initiation of contact threw off his kid gloves.  Oskar scritched behind her ears, then showered just as much attention on the top of her head.  Sadly, since she wasn’t a cougar or another representative of the cat family, purrs of any kind were not to be heard.  He could, however, tell she was enjoying the attention.<br/><br/><i>If you want, we could test it, </i>she said, figuratively speaking.  Her suggestion stopped the scritches almost immediately.  While grinning at her, his head bobbed as if only he was privy to a song being played.  “Yes, yes we could,” he finally uttered.  While standing upright, Oskar stroked her one last time from head to shoulders, and then said, “C’mon, Jane.  Follow me to my house.  After we get there, I’ll prep for a shift of my own.”