|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 10:42 pm
A look at his wife..apparently she did something that made him pretty sure it was her. Okay...let try another tactic.
"Yes, I've yelled at mom, and mom has yelled at me. we argue."
before thinking about it a moment, and pulling his son back away a bit, who he couldn't hide in his shirt.
"you've seen my sword..when have I ever tried to hurt anyone without using my sword. and you've seen me scold Malikhai for smacking the girls that live here. why would you think I would hit mom?"
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 10:57 pm
He didn't realize his dad was that far gone or he'd have never thrown him the ball. It was a game they'd played before, especially when he was a kid and his dad was trying to teach him to control his power. Watching his father for a moment, he shook his head. "I know that. That's why I wasn't-we weren't," he amended, "allowed to go in your training room when we were little. And why Mom would yell at you sometimes, too." The logic made sense but he hated to think of his sister lying in a pool of blood someday. Or the woman he'd more or less adopted as his grandmother. Fianna was a rune mage too after all. "No! I wouldn't be okay. I can't handle this family by myself. I can't handle Mom and I certainly can't teach Kelli what he needs to know. I'm not strong enough to be the leader...and you've said it yourself. I'm not responsible enough either. That's...Malikhai." Throwing the ball at the wall again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Picking Up Stars Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fractured Moonlight Captain
|
Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 11:05 pm
Piper had a guess...after all, if bonds were mimicked and what not then it would be hard for a toddler to tell the difference. She raised an eyebrow at that little gem of information though. Since when had her oldest been hitting the servant girls? But it seemed at least Malik knew to correct that right off...if she had her guess it had been emulated behaviors and hey, even Malik didn't like some of the things he did himself. But a frown...toddlers could be such grudge holding creatures.
And now there was no more hiding in his father's clothes or behind his own hands. Mostly because he didn't want to hold up his arms like that, he really even wasn't sitting up on his own, more of letting Malik hold him up. "You push without it." True enough, this little elf saw more than he let on and Malik had a tendency to shove people around he was angry with. Mostly his staff whom came upstairs with something displeasing to say. Constant shifting of eyes between parents though as if monitoring if daddy was going to make a move. "Because she doesn't listen to you. When you don't listen you get punished. You're in charge, not her. She has to listen." General rule that played effect on everyone it seemed to the little elf. And obviously those words were not born of his own thinking, someone had given them to him.
He was rather surprised by what came out of his son's mouth. Was that the reason they couldn't see eye to eye? Because he thought Sevilin was comparing Zykariel against Malikhai? "I'm not asking you to take care of the family. Besides I think your mother would beat you to that." He was quiet a moment....another time where there was a sudden chasm between the two and he didn't really know how to compensate. "I know that you are responsible. You don't show it much, but I know you are. If you weren't responsible your horse wouldn't perform as well as she does. I don't expect you to act as Malikhai and be honest...he lacks where you exceed. Being responsible doesn't mean you do everything right all the time...sometimes it means you do the things other would frown at you for because they don't understand." He'd killed his brother for that very point. Leaning forward with a sigh to res his elbows on his kness. "You are strong in your own right. I was nowhere nearly as brave or resolute when I was your age." Perhaps one of the few times Sevilin had mentioned his past.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 11:12 pm
"Yeah but I'd be the oldest male and sometimes a male has to be the one in charge. You know when Faate and Lyssie start bringing boys home? Mom's way too light with that kind of stuff and those boys need to know that I'll beat them if they upset my sisters. Besides, Mom needs you." He didn't say anything to his father's attempts to bolster his opinion though it helped immensely. At least his father was expressing his understanding of their fights. Sometimes he felt like such a failure in his dad's eyes. He glanced up sharply and frowned at his father. "Don't give me that. You grew up with that Llothian mess, Dad. Women ruled so you had to be strong or you wouldn't be here right now. Malik already shared your glory days with me when I was little." A derisive note as if he didn't really think they were glory days at all. "Although letting Mom control you is probably not the best way to relive those."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Picking Up Stars Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fractured Moonlight Captain
|
Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:11 am
His turn to frown. "What Malik told you never even scratched the surface of things. Just a minor explaination for something even he can't fully understand. Control was barely a part of it all." Pausing a moment and brushing a hand over his cheek with a sigh. "Strength is not what let me survive to where I am now. Compliance is what did. Compliance to things that would make anyone's stomach turn. Compliance, cowardice and selfishness." He honestly couldn't believe that his son even had an opinion on all of this, the child had been too young to understand then and certinally didn't know too much better now. "And some habits one can't survive without." Perhaps it was better to walk away from this now...he wouldn't be able to stand his son taking barbs at him. He gave one of those signs he usually gave when he thought Zykariel was giving him a brush off in their conversations. "Well...I just wanted to make sure you were alright..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:30 am
"Yeah and you never went back and filled in the blanks either." It was a sore subject with him. Malikhai could relay battles and conquests and he knew almost nothing about his father's past. His mother was tight-lipped about it, refusing to tell him anything his father hadn't. And his father hadn't told him anything. "Compliance isn't a sin, Dad. I comply all the time. Sometimes to avoid punishment and other times just because I feel like it. I comply with the rules of a race so I can win fairly and not have my reputation tarnished. And everyone is selfish at some point in their lives." He knew he was referring to his compulsive need to clean which had never bothered Zykariel at all. He sometimes messed with his dad just because when he was younger it was funny. It wasn't anymore and hadn't been in a long time. "So tell me then. What was it about?" But then his dad did what he always did and backed off and Zykariel sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little shaken up over things I'm not supposed to see."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Picking Up Stars Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:27 am
Malik chuckled lightly.
"Doesn't listen to me. boy I could tell you some stories about her not listening to me. you'd probably get a good laugh out of a few. but as for pushing...yes, I have pushed. but when have I pushed your mother? I do push around people that work for me that upset me. it's a very old habit. in fact, it used to be a much worse reaction before I met your mother."
though a raise of his eyebrow.
"I'm in charge, and she has to listen, hmm? well then how about all the times your mom makes me take vacations? or when she tells me to help with her records on her horses? If I'm in charge and she has to listen to me, then she shouldn't be able to tell me what to do, should she. that would make me not the boss, wouldn't it? Does Malikhai do what you tell him to when we put him in charge over you? does Keely do what you tell her to when she's in charge?"
A pause there.
"you think your brother wouldn't stand up for your mom? did you ever even see Malikhai before today in the past week?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:29 pm
"Are you selfish enough to kill your own brother? I was." He turned toward his son, something wouldn't let him walk away this time. "Compliance becomes a sin when you'll do anything you're told no matter how horrible it is. Selfishness can't for forgiven when you use it to further your own reputation in a world where that means nothing but the best bed fodder and breeding material." Shaking his head lightly. "It was about how unfair one thing was...and punishing for that one thing. Not the traditional Llothian thought practices." Pausing a moment. "I have five sisters and had two brothers. My family name was in high standing in Vrist. For my sisters that meant almost the best of everything and little was far from their grasp. For me and my brothers...that meant the highest rent out prices from anything to do with a bed to assassinations." Pausing and letting his son have a taste of information...if he wanted to know more he'd give sign that he did. If not, he'd be a teenager and say he wanted to be left alone.
"When you yell you push." Yes it was true he'd never seen his father push his mother but to a toddler it was a one thing lead to the other eventually kind of thinking. But nod at the in charge thing. "You do it to make her com...comp..." He hated hard words. "So she won't fuss and stays with you." That's what daddy had said. Little blue tipped fingers playing with themselves in his own fidgety motions. But a light frown as his father continued on with further examples. "Sometimes they do." Because he was somewhat manipulative like his brother. Fhairiss wrinkled his nose some, "He was at school." Because to the child...school was this new wonderous thing that made his brother disappear for a span of time. Not like Lessons at home.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fractured Moonlight Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Picking Up Stars Vice Captain
|
Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:37 pm
His head snapped up again as his father apparently decided he could know what had happened to him but he hadn't been expecting that at all. As the words continued to pour, he began to wonder if he'd delved into something that would have been better left alone. He knew his father had a hard life before he'd met his mother and created him and his siblings, but he'd never imagined it had dealt with the murder of his family and some of the other things Dad was referring to. Fidgeting with his little energy ball, he fought to find something to say and shook his head. "The system was faulty. Doesn't that keep you from being blamed if you were forced to do it or lose your own life?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:55 pm
"You assume I was told to do things that I merely made the decision to do when they weren't around to be breathing down my neck. Things I took upon myself to make myself the soul focus of their attention." Shaking his head lightly...he'd only ever talked to Zahara about this stuff. "When you were told to do something, you were either punished for not doing it good enough, or smacked for doing too good a job. Resolve was something easily broken, and what they did to me, they soon did to my brothers...I set the model they were to follow. They looked to instill competition between us. That's how it was there though for men...a constant competition to be in an exhaulted position that we didn't even want to be in relly in the first place. Competition leads to death."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fractured Moonlight Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:27 pm
"Compliant."
A glance at Piper, then down at his son.
"Malikhai would know. just like you know. those rocks in your head would be in his too. and he could be home in an instant with his horses, just like Ramoth. and do you think Serino would let me hit your mom? he'd leave hoof prints on me. But how about I'll hand you back to your mother, and she can show you if she feels up to it. Since you don't trust me, apparently."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:28 pm
Okay, so perhaps his father wasn't the person that he thought he was. Apparently he'd thought a few things that weren't true. Chewing on his bottom lip, he listened and frowned. "You chose to kill your brothers...without them ordering you to?" That really didn't mesh with his idea of his father and he tilted his head. "Was there any other way, Dad? Did you have to kill them or did you just get too wrapped up in the competition and thought you might be able to take a breath without two pesky competitors?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
Picking Up Stars Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fractured Moonlight Captain
|
Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:55 pm
"I only killed one of my brothers...and I did it to save him from living the life that I was living. Usually the only way to get out is to die. I was younger than you are now and I thought it would be for the best. I couldn't stand to see my brother being turned into me...not because I wanted to be top pet in the house, but because I knew it was wrong." He had to work to ignore that defensive teenager tone his son was giving him. It may not be too hard for the boy to hear, but it was hard Sevilin to say. "And his death made things no less easier on me, only worse because after I had expressed a 'competitive streak' as they said, my worth doubled. Women gain their rank by the worth of their brothers honestly. How good your brother is in bed, how well he listens to orders, how fast he jumps to a command or can do away with a foe in an instant."
"That." Despite all his forthcoming knowledge, he seemed still rather stiff as he was being held. He'd like to lay down but thought right now wasn't a good time to ask. "Serino would hit you with an apple." That would probably be cuter if the subject wasn't what it was. But he reached for his mother as the opportunity was given to him, snuggling into her when she did pull him back to her lap.
Oh boy...this was going to be a trial. Question was, was Malik up to it without letting his frustration beat him to the finish? But she merely pat her son on the back in soothing fashion as he snuggled and turned a look to her husband that was slightly worried. For Dhairiss and the slight edge to Malik's words.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 4:32 pm
He was drumming his fingers on his chair, resting his head on his hand and staring off into space for the moment. he was no psychologist. He didn't have the knowledge or the tools to deal with a toddler being marred mentally against him. And frankly, he didn't know anyone offhand that had experience in that either. while sevilin and zahara might be familiar with the process of mentally traumatizing children, they probably had no method to treat it.
So he got up, giving his wife a kiss and rubbing his youngest son's back, before leaving the room and going to Fianna's room. maybe she knew someone from Andal that might be able to help with this situation. and if she didn't, he'd probably be forced to turn toward Aurahkah for aid. asking a human...that would sting. So he gave a knock on her door.
"Fianna? are you awake and decent? unless you don't mind me seeing you less than?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Picking Up Stars Vice Captain
|
Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 4:39 pm
So then things weren't nearly as bad as he'd first thought. He tried to put himself in that situation. If Lyssie and Faate were using him anyway they wanted to and torturing Kelligrin, what would he have done? He didn't know and that life was hard to fathom. He knew without asking that age had nothing to do with hit. Lyssie would have dominion over him even though she was so much younger than he was. "It was in their best interest to turn you into what they wanted you to be... So what happened to your other brother? And how'd you get away?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
