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Lunar Mirage Vice Captain
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 Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 9:33 pm
For a moment, she can hear the howls once again, and feels a sense of the sadness her mother must of felt as well, as she sings the song aloud.
Tell me what the rain knows
O are these the Tears of Ages
That wash away the Wolf's Way
And leave not a trace of the day?
Tell me what the rain knows
O is this the flood of fortune
That pours itself upon me?
O see how I drown in this sea
Hark, hear the howl that eats the moon alive
Your fur is on fire
The smoke turns the whole sky raven black
And the world upon your back will crack
Where will you go
Now you've no home?
Let the rain wash away your last days Tell Me What the Rain Knows <--song on Youtube if you don't know it and want to know the melody <3
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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:11 am
It's hard to hide in the darkness when your coat is as white as snow, but to Akilles, this never mattered. His paws brushed the ground silently as he strode through the night. He had no real destination, other than the one in his mind. Pictures of beautiful swirling lights, known only to show themselves in the northern most part of their new world located in the Mekani Mountain Range. How he knew they where there he still wasn't sure but he wanted to go there.... but how? This is what was in his mind that night. As he walked, his lean muscles shifted under hiss brilliant white coat, his markings looking almost like they where glowing in the full like of the moon. His eyes had a far off look to them, but as he heard something it drew him back to the present.
He paused, lifted his head and turned it slightly. His eyes caught the white part of her coat first, as the blackness of her nearly faded into the night. As he caught himself staring at her, entranced by her song.
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Lunar Mirage Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:45 am
She sat there, still as a statue as she stared at the moon, willing it to give her the answers to the questions she sought...namely the last one mentioned in the song. She had no home, maybe a bit of shelter in Benoni's pride, but she dared not call it home. The curse was bound to strike again, it had taken the rest of her family, leaving her only her young son Byron...for now.
Byron...needed a home. The curse had robbed her son of his happy-go-lucky personality he'd been born with, and now he rarely left his mother's side. In fact, at this moment he was nothing more than a dark ball of fur between her front paws, and she took comfort in his warmth. At least he was still alive...
"Mama?" a little voice in the darkness, sleepy, the last vowel punctuated with a yawn.
"Hmm?" Lakoni answered, half listening to him, half still wishing for answers from the moon.
"What's a wolf?" a sound of shifting as the cub got a little more comfortable.
"Hmm...My mama told me they're like really big dogs. I've never actually seen one, but their song is beautiful...and haunting...to hear. I've heard them, once when I was about your age...." her voice trails off, lost once more in her memories. "I think your father would have loved them. I always wanted to take you all to listen to them one day, but now...." her voice eternally sad, a sniff in the darkness, yet she still kept her vigil to the moon for a moment longer before leaning down to nose the sleepy form between her paws. "Now he and your brothers are in a better place. I'm sure they can hear the wolves anytime they wish. One day, though, I promise you will hear them as well."
"Will you sing again, Mama?" the voice was even sleepier now, barely more than a whisper.
Lakoni began to hum once more, looking down at the form of her son, settling down and curling her paws protectively around him, cradding his head. She started to look back at the moon, but the corner of her eye caught something, and she turned her face to see what looked to be a ghost - a male in glowing white, his mane in the darkness almost giving the illusion his head was not attched to his body, instead floating somehow just above his shoulders. Gasping slightly, she hugged her son tighter to her chest and hoped, ghost or not, he'd not heard her. Her body tensing, she prepared to protect her son at all costs...the curse would not take him away.
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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 5:16 pm
It only took a moment for his eyes to adjust, but he saw her then. And the boy. Who where they and why where they alone? Atiffening a bit he looked around for a male to be the sire of the cub, or at least a mate to the female but he saw nothing. Sighing and shaking out his mane he took a few steps towards them. As he walked he mentally had to loosen himself, he was too stiff and harsh looking. He had seen how she was hunched over the child, it must be her child, and he didn't want to intimidate her.
"Are you alone?" He asked from a respectable distance. He didn't speak to loudly, he didn't want to break the serenity of the evening (or wake the child) but it seemed that even his soft words and changed the atmosphere somehow. "Is there anything I can do to help?" He asked again, his tail swaying slowly behind him. Obviously if the female was alone something wasn't right. In Akilles' mind, every female needed a white knight.
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Lunar Mirage Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 7:35 pm
That single question, are you alone, terrified her on so many levels. Not just the ones that involved something bad happening to her, but to Byron who was the only bright spot in her life. He really was her last thread to reality, what kept her going day by day. With her siblings, parents, mate and children taken away piece by piece, killed by others in most cases, she was extremely wary of strangers, and with ears laid back, she growled a quiet warning to the ghostly male. To be honest, since the death of her mate and other children, this was the first truely spontaneous encounter she'd had with another lion, and his presence had her heart racing in fear and she had to really fight the urge to grab Byron by his nape and run.
Her growl, though, cut short at his second question. Did she need help? Hell yeah! She was barely keeping in one piece most days, and that though nearly made her laugh aloud. She had to bite it back, fearing the sound of it would come out harsh and insane. She had no one to come and save her, no one to truly lean on....was she alone? Did she need help? Yes, to both, and on more levels than he would ever possibly know.
"Yes." It was all she said, leaving him to guess which question she'd answered. Her voice was soft, hardly louder than a whisper, and full of ache...it was the first time she'd admitted to anyone outside of Benoni she was in need of help. Ashamed, she turned her face away from him to stare at the moon once more, the touch of a breezing bringing the long-mournful sounds of howling from her memories. From far away, she heard someone humming the lullaby once more, (her mother? yes, it had to be...) and without thinking picked up on it and began humming it aloud to herself as she'd done earlier, forgetting that she was no longer alone.
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 6:02 pm
Akilles had the decency to look away when the emotions played on her face. He didn't need to see what her heart was revealing. It was plain enough in her voice, in that one simple word. The kind of word that the world hangs on a string by. That word is the word that puts a sharp edge to that string and decides to cut it or not. But, either way, he tried to give her the privacy she deserved. His heart seemed to ache, whether that was from the image of this lioness raising the cub by herself with no form of protection... or if it was the mysterious song he had heard bits and pieces of.
Turning his head and taking a few steps towards her, his voice as soft as the wind that caresses the leaves, caressing so lightly that they flutter briefly but never fall from the tree, he spoke to her. "Will you.... sing that again?" He asked quietly, stopping but a few steps away from her. His eyes where shining with interest, his ears perked to catch every lift of her voice, every turn of the note. He had to know what this song meant. He was once told that there where beings that protected the lands by the mysterious lights in the northern mountains. Could it be these wolves she was talking about? "What are the wolves?" He asked again, even softer.
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Lunar Mirage Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 7:09 pm
Lakoni's ear flicked at the sound of his voice, but for a minute, it seemed as if she'd not heard him as she never stopped humming, nor tore her gaze from the moon. She was lost in the moment, completely gone, but still her subconscious caught his question, and she sung the lullabye once more, for the first time pouring her heart into the haunting melody.
When it ended, she went silent, her ear once more catching his question. For a moment again, all was silent, but she did spare one quick glance at him before looking back at the moon. "My parents were wanders for...many reasons," was how her story began. She told him a bit of how her parents had taken her to the mountains, shown her the lights that floated in the sky, but what had really stuck with her was the music of the wolves. As she lay cuddled up to her mother, she'd sung the same lullaby to her. "It's hard to describe, but I think it's the only true time I ever felt...'home'...the sound...the sound is so haunting." She described what her mother had told her of the wolf packs that roamed, how they were big dogs and silent hunters and how they worked together when hunting much like the lionesses do. "I never got to see one, though. Always wanted to take my children and mate to hear them one night...but that..."
She drifted off, lost in the thoughts of sadness over losing her mate and other children. "That one time is the only time I ever truly felt that my parents cared about me. The only time I ever felt like their daughter, and not just some stranger tagging along for a whacked out ride." She explained about her parents, describing first how her mother and father had an affinity towards plants, but it was truly a gift for her mother, as she could look at a plant and knew just how it could be used to cure ailments and injuries even if she'd never seen it before. She often said the plant itself told her, though Lakoni could never confirm or disprove the idea. Her father, on the other hand, had discovered the drug properties plants could produce and ended up leading her mother down the wrong path. She told of how when she and her brother Blake and sister Sashi was born, her parents were so far into drug use that it'd already begun to affect their minds, but thankfully she and her siblings didn't have any problems.
She told about her siblings, of Blake's affinity for plants he'd inherited from their mother, and Sashi's attention-whoreness, about how Blake had been lost in the desert and how she'd lead the search to find him and never did, how Sashi just upped and walked away one day figuring she could get more attention easier elsewhere by leaving, her parents waving at her as she did. Then, she described the months she'd spent trailing her parents from one place to another trying to win some sort of approval, but never finding anything beyond feeling like she was with two strangers who merely tolerated her presence. They weren't hostile in the least, but she definatly did not have the daughter/parent relationship with them, more like drugged out traveling companions that got into alot of trouble.
She told about how bad luck followed them everywhere, how her mother became referred to as a witch, do to her increasingly erratic behaviors due to the drugs on top of her weird ability with plants. They were hunted in some instances, barely leaving with their lives, her parents laughing like it was a big joke to them. "And I think, in their minds, all this was funny, but it scared the hell out of me. Finally...I left. I just couldn't take it anymore."
She told about how she'd settled down with a handsome lion, was accepted into a pride and was just starting to feel like she was home, when weird things began to happen. "It ends up...I have my mother's gift and curse. It wasn't until I got away from them that I came to realize I had the same gifts as my mother, stronger than Blake had ever had it, in that I too can tell what a plant is good to be used for, though HOW I know, I'm not sure...."
She told of how misfortunes began to befall the pride of varying degrees. More sickness came, times of hunger/drought drove prey away, other prides attacking various members in ambush. She worked hard, pulling her weight while she was pregnant, doing what she could for everyone around...but it wasn't enough. She began to hear whispers, members would stop talking as she approached. She should have gotten a clue when a couple of the cubs asked if she was really a witch one day, but she'd laughed it off, and explained her gift to them and it had seemed to satisfy their personal curiosity, but not the adults. Still, she was personally happier than she could ever think she could be when her children were born. "I had three rambunctious boys...beautiful boys..." Her voice broke slightly, and after a short pause, continued onward.
One day, she recieved a visit from one of the members, and got into a heated argument over something silly. It was demanded she leave, and Lakoni had refused to do so, saying she pulled her weight and then some, and that the other lioness had no right to demand such a thing of her. The lioness said something along the lines of she'd regret staying much longer...it was an odd comment to her, and she shrugged it off.
It had to be about a week later, after a couple particularly bad misfortunes had fallen on the pride, that her mate was told that he and his sons were invited on a hunting expedition they were going to take to bring back some rather large game that required more members than the available females to accomplish alone. He came to tell her and their sons, and to take them with him. Byron hesitated, stating he'd wanted to stay with Mama. He'd become increasingly agitated lately, but Lakoni hadn't quite figured out why yet, and told her mate and older sons to go on ahead that it'd be fun.
Byron had been torn, wanting to go with Dad, but wanting to stay with Mom too, and in the end, she'd managed to talk him into going along and encouraged him to run to catch up. He'd left, excited as could be at his first hunting trip, but when he did catch up, he found his father and brothers surrounded by the other pack...they were fighting, and there was blood... "The short story is that the pride leaders had given the order that since I refused to leave, they would make me by ordering the death of my family. Without them, I had no ties to the place, and therefor no reason to stay...unless I wished for death as well. Byron was lucky to have survived, they never found him hiding in the grass watching, nor saw him return to me. We left and...well, that's about it. Benoni, the pride king of Le Roi de Sorrow has agreed to take us in, but I dare not stay long. I am a witch, and am cursed. Where will I go now I have no home? I'm..not sure. The rain has no answer that I can hear...it won't tell me what it knows, though I continue to ask..."
Her story complete, she falls silent, not really realizing yet that she'd just spilled her guts to a complete stranger, just feeling for the moment that saying what she'd been feeling aloud felt so good, though she was still as lost as ever. All she knew for sure was that she needed to make sure Byron was safe. That's all that mattered in the end, and it was the only thing she lived for. Silently, she wept for all she'd lost, and the hopelessness that permeated her soul.
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 7:50 pm
The song had entranced him. As Akilles sat and listened to her sing again, he could picture the snow capped mountains, the wolves (maybe pictures them a bit more lion-sized than dog-sized) and more. The detail sof the song soon became a colorful picture in his head. Although the words were a bit depressing, all he could think of was the beauty that these wolves had to themselves, a true safe haven.
As his eyes came open, he caught the thread of her story. It pulled him in, almost literally. By the time she was finished he was sitting only a foot away from her, his eyes focusing on the cub that lay between her feet. "If it is any comfort...." He said softly, not wanting to wake to child or break the moment of silence. "You have done something right.... he's sitting there before you, and he loves you dearly. If is a part of being a mother... a parent... to love your children, but to recieve that love in return... I think that is good luck in itself." He said simply. It migt have been a weird way to look at it, but it was exactly how he felt. He shifted then, his heart racing for no more then a second but he seemed to look anxious, he looked towards the brush in which he had appeared from earlier.
He didn't know why, but he began telling her of himself. Maybe he thought he needed to repay a story with a story... or something like that.
"I can't say I've experience such devestation... but I know what is like being a outcast. I've no father to speak of, except the donor that gave me and my sisters to my mothers." Akilles had no shame for his mothers, he loves them both dearly and wouldn't trade them for a 'normal' pride of parents. "I've never known a father, the only male figure I've known was Hyde, and he didn't ever treat me like his son although by most standards, I am." He looked away, a small smile creasing his features. The picture of his mothers always brought a smile to his lips. "My mothers, well, Teysu, she was thought of as an outcast and Quiyue, well... the only person who loved her for who she was, was Teysu."
"Quiyue was left on her own because of the voices she heard in her head, I'm not going to deny their exsistance because I know they are there. I've caught her talking to them and I don't run away from her because I know that only hurts her, and makes her feel odd...." He stole a glance then to Lakoni, he was hoping she would feel the same comfort as he hadn't run away yet, although she had practally just called herself a witch. "And Teysu, was begotten by my grandfather Mekare and some random lioness. When my grandmother Nox saw the children with Mekare and knew they weren't hers she left him and he became so horribly depressed he forgot how to take care of himself. Because of this treachery to his mate, Teysu said she'd never trust a male. It hurt her to see her father so devestated by his mate that she couldn't get herself to leave him as that would only cause him more grief... but she couldn't care for him, no, not after what he had done to Nox. Although Nox never accepted Teysu and her siblings as her own children.... Teysu respected her. Not to mention she loved her half sister Givenna too much, as Givena was Nox's blood child. As Teysu grew up she left her father in the care of her elder brother Aoha and ventured on her own."
He sighed and shook his head. Speaking of that time in his mother's life always made him sad. Maybe it was the wandering that did it... had he been there he would have protected his mother..... again he stole a glance but this time to Byron... he was sure Byron protected his mother the way Akilles would have at his age. Maybe even that was how Veritas felt now. Again he looked out the corner of his eye, as if expecting movement other than the wind in the branches. "Eventually Teysu and Quiyue meet, their hearts desire found in one another but with no way for children they sought out help and that's how they found Hyde. Hyde was so terribly lonely as his love was a mere child at the time, Vintage is her name." He found it quite interesting at this point that he knew so much about Hyde... what ever became of him and Vintage? How he wondered...
"So Hyde, wanting to help the lionesses because he couldn't have children of his own at the time, gave my mothers a gift of life, three children. Gabriel, Czigany, and myself... Akilles." He smiled a bit, his mothers had loved him and his sisters dearly, and still do but now they loved even more that him...
"I knew I wanted that kind of love..." He seemed to grow quieter now, his eyes closing tightly as if he were wincing. "I thought I had found it..." He sighed bitterly. "I was younger then... foolish. I was so proud of being honorable, or helping those in danger. I think I had a super hero complex or something..." He said, forcing a small chuckle to make his mood lighter. "the lioness I came across was the most beautiful to my eyes but she seemed to leave and quickly as she came. She had kept me only for her use. She didn't truely love me, she was only playing on my foolish emotions... but those false pretenses and stupid decisions brought me the best thing of my life... things I should say." He said with a heart hearted smile. "My two daughters, A...Alatheia and Veritas." He had stumbled on his first child's name not because he was nervous to tell her but because... "I havn't a clue where she took Alatheia... I've lost her. Now all I have is Veritas. She is nearly identical to her mother..." He said in a lost voice. He was imagining those days when he was with that lioness... how she had fooled him. She had pulled the wool over his eyes and let him live a dream/ Certainly there had to have been some sort of feelings there... did she not miss her own daughters? "I've been... trying to give Veritas the life I knew as a children. One full of love... but it's missing when you don't have love in yourself, you know?" He said shaking his head. For it was true for him... he could love her like he was taught but she knew, even as a cub, that he was missing something. He was missing the love for himself. "She's there... in those bushes." He said softly, nodding towards the small tan bundle that was hiding in the bushes.
"Veritas.... won't you come here?" He asked lightly, his eyes lighting up once more as he saw the pride and oy of his life wiggle out of the bushes and bound over to him, scrunching herself between his legs. "She was the one who first heard your music...." He said softly, nuzzling his daughter affectionately.
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Lunar Mirage Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 8:21 pm
Slowly, Lakoni realized what she'd just done...and that he was now extremely close. Fear welled up in her, and she started to have a panic attack. Had she just done what she think she'd done? Revealed her inner most soul for a stranger to laugh at or worse? She was so torn between fight and flight that she couldn't move...mentally, she began grasping for something to hold onto, and she reached for his voice. She hung onto his words for dear life, at first, without truly hearing them (in one sense she was afraid to do so), but soon realized he had his own story to tell. Forgetting her own fear in the wonder she felt, she turned to look at him with her head cocked slightly to one side.
She found, despite her fear of others, her heart went out to him. She had known love, companionship, and what a joy it was in a mate, and he never had. He, unlike her, though had had wonderful mothers, something she'd longed for and never found. Though his story wasn't near as tragic as her own, she felt the need to comfort him so strong, that it overcame all her fears and before she'd realized what she was doing, she nuzzled his cheek.
It wasn't meant to be an intimate gesture, but for a moment the memory had come back of what it'd felt like to touch her mate that way, and how much she missed him and so the nuzzle turned into a gentle lick. Embarrased she'd let herself go, she turned away stammering an "I-I'm sorry", using his daughter as a good excuse for something to look at other than him. She mustn't let her emotions cloud her judgement, after all, yes he seemed like a nice enough lion, but all good things come to an end, and she had her son to think of. "Veritas? It's a beautiful name for a beautiful lioness..."
Sensing movement, she looked down to see Byron, still half-asleep but looking at Akilles and Veritas with curiosity. "I am Lakoni, and this handsome yet sleepy cubling is Byron." She smiled down at her son, but still kept her gaze from Akilles, scared of what she'd just stupidly done especially to a stranger she had no reason to trust, though something told her he was a good soul.
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 8:43 pm
Akilles had only finished his story moments before, his mind still trapped in its memories. He was looking at Veritas, but his eyes where focused somewhere else. When Lakoni nuzzled him and licked he caught himself before he purred, his eyes closed in bliss. He had been thinking of the lioness, his mind's eye had felt her lick him like she had time and time again, his heart had begun to feel resentment and he had pulled away a bit but when he opened his eyes he saw Lakoni...
"D-Don't be sorry...." He stammered quietly. Closing his eyes and mentally shaking the images from his head. "It's what us parents do... we feel the need to comfort those who are aching, and sooth away the burns of the past." He said before nuzzling her back, also a comforting gesture, just to show her he wasn't offended by her actions. He couldn't help but blush a bit as he did for the only lioness he had done that too besides hismothers or daughters... what that strange, rouge lioness.
As Lakoni had looked down at her, Veritas had shifted and shyed away a bit. But when she felt that Lakoni was more of a mother figure, she gave her a shy smile when she was addressed, and looked away quickly, as most cubs do with new adults. Being that she was a cub, though, she warmed up tot he stranger quickly, seeing only honesty and trust in the lioness and her son. But it wasn't the other cub that Veritas was staring at, it was Lakoni.
"Papa.... she looks like that pretty star lioness.... Rowena... Or Ethel... whichever it was..." She said softly. It may have seemed odd for the cub to talk so adult like, but she had been raised by her father. He had never seen her as a child, but as an adult like him, thus he treated her like one and she had come to see herself like one.
"Hmm... what was that darling?" He asked quietly, having been distracted by Lakoni and the temptaions of nuzzling her again. "Ethel Rowena you mean? That lioness from the star pride? Why yes.... yes she does..." Akilles said as he looked Lakoni over again. "They are a bit different in color... but the markigs are similar... but Veritas, you know there are hundreds of lions and chances are some will look like others from time to time. Right?" He said with a small smile, there was always something new to teach a curious mind...
"Yes Papa... but she looks so...familiar!" She said with a humph and cocked her head to the side and stared at Lakoni before giving up and slumping down at her father's feet, it was well past her bed time by now.
"I'm sorry Lakoni... we don't see other lions too often. In fact, Ethel was the last lioness we saw and that was a rather long while ago. At least a fortnight. But it is quite spectacular how you two seem alike. She looked like a dawning morning, the red rising from her paws. But it was odd how she had a steak on her stomach and chest. She said she got it from her grandfather... Blake, I believe his name was. We got to talking about her family... she has a rather large one at that. She said that it was only time before her father's (Neo was his name) children started carrying traits of their grandparents." Akilles smiled and shook his head. He wouldn't have believed it, had his other daughter not looked a little like his mother Teysu.
"Ethel had said it would only be time before one of the grandchildren, or great grandchildren started fussing over flowers like Blake did with his roses." At this time, Akilles rested himself beside his daughter, taking a big paw and curling it around her to draw her into his chest as he laid on his side, his tail flicking lightly. "It is rather curious how children can look like those from generations ago... is it not?" He said as he stared at his daughter and smiled, thinking of his mothers.
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Lunar Mirage Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 9:02 pm
Lakoni was surprised when he nuzzled in return, and she blushed a deep red under her dark fur (which she was grateful it was not only night, but she had dark fur to begin with), became even more embarrased and preoccupied, and partially having to fight the feeling of being giddy as a cub (Why? Why am I feeling this....weird?) since he was the first lion to actually touch her since the death of her family. She was drowning in the idea of how good it felt (Great, just great, Lakoni, don't go falling for the first handsome beast you run into...it's just grief, and when the hell are you going to see him again after tonight? Get real and get ahold of yourself for gosh sakes, girl!!) and it took a moment for her to get the thread of the conversation back.
Aaah, Veritas had said she looked like someone else, but that had to be just chance. A chest marking, after all is fairly common, and not something to really get excited about. She was amused at the idea, and saddened to think she could of had a nephew and neices if Blake had only surviv--
"Wha? Wait..." Lakoni's eyes went wide as she whirled to look at the young cub now with her father. "Say that again. Did you say Blake? and roses? Seriously...Blake didn't survive, I looked all over for him around that stupid bush he'd fallen asleep under, and there was no sign, nothing, when we came back to it...." She was rambling now, not wanting to believe what she'd just heard. Blake? Roses? Surely it had to be another lion, a random coincidence....
"Take me to Rowan. Ethel. Whatever her name is...I need to see her...please..." If Blake was alive, if...
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 9:11 pm
As he cuddled his daughter against his chest, Akilles couldn't help but take another glance at Laknoi. She was a rather beautiful lioness... dark and mysterious. Who cared if she was a witch. His mother heard voices for goodness sakes.. .he could put up with a lioness who had a few tricks up her sleeves. Wait! What was he thinking? He was leavin in the morning to head North... he was taking Veritas to see the lights. There was no chance of them seeing each other again....
What? Was he hearing her wrong? "You want to go see Ethel? I'm surprised you havn't ran into one of the family members. She said members of the pride usual meander about the lands to get away fromt he hustle and bustle of the den. Their den is only a few days journey from here... when we saw Ethel, we where on the boarders of their land heading North." He said as he eyed her curiously.
"So... you think this young lioness and her family are your kin?" He said as he raised himself a bit, only to stop when he felt an aggrivated wiggle against his chest from Veritas who was soundly asleep despite Lakoni's rather loud voice. "I... could take you there if you really want me to." He said softly. Maybe this once he'd been a little selfish. He had to admit he liked being around Lakoni. They where both struggling parents tryig to give their children good lives. Certainly that had to be worth something....
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Lunar Mirage Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 7:45 am
Lakoni looked at him in clear indecision, wanting to beg and plead with him to come with her, but the other side saying she shouldn't be selfish and keep them from whatever it was they'd been doing when they met. She turned to look the way he'd pointed, to the way where a portion of her family may still be waiting, and the thought made her heart race. Yeah, she could go alone...but would she? In the end, she'd probably chicken out before she ever got there. After all, the chances of them being related and that Blake being the same as her brother...? Had to be slim to none. But didn't they mention roses? Blake and his roses...the thought made her heart flutter with anticipation.
She looked back to Akilles, and for the first time struck at how handsome he was, and how lonely she felt. She knew what she was feeling now was just grief, after all hadn't her own mate just died? Before doing something stupid and wrecking both their lives, she should probably end it all, wish him luck and leave. Maybe go see if Blake was her brother...maybe not. She didn't outright know if she could do it alone, but if she had Akilles...
No. Selfish thought to want to keep him with her...but it would only be for a few days, and maybe that was okay. She was rationalizing everything, she knew, but it came down to the fact that she was so desperate for someone to lean on, that the thought of not having him around was giving her a panic attack. She knew what would happen if he stayed, that he'd probably be touched by the curse, and she couldn't bear the thought of something happening to them as well. She was a witch, after all, just like her mother...minus the mind-numbing drugs.
Randomly, she almost wished she were on them at this point.
In the end, she just sat there silent, unable to answer his question. She knew what she wanted to say (and it was extremely evident in her eyes), and what she SHOULD say in order to keep them safe, but she could get neither one out. She chewed her lower lip in frustration, mentally begging him to answer the question for her. She'd accept whatever he choose.
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 4:23 pm
In the moment of silence, which seemed to drag on forever in Akilles' mind, he waited for a sign from her to tell him what to do. Any sign. His heart was pounding so hard he was sure that she could hear it. Veritas shifted a little in her father's fur, a small purr coming from her. Akilles didn't dare move his eyes. He was watching Lakoni intently, trying to keep the pleading from his eyes. How badly he wanted her to say something... anything.
After a short while, when it was clear Lakoni wasn't going to say anything, as he was sure that she didn't want to 'disturb them' with such a 'petty' request, Akilles broke eye contact for just a shot moment to look down at his daughter, then over to her son, Byron. "Wouldn't you like Byron to meet his uncle? I'm sure that this Blake is your brother... how could it not be?" He said softly, almost silently. "I will take you to Ethel's pride... from there we can decide what to do next." Returning his gaze up to her he gave her an encouraging smile. "All I'm trying to do is get to the north to see the shining lights, hear the wolves, find peace once again... but it can wait until you've made your peace." He added quietly.
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Lunar Mirage Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 6:17 pm
He was going to come with her! Elated, she wanted to jump for joy and act all cubbish for the first time in....ever? Had she ever really been a cub? No, not really. She'd always been the level-headed one trying to keep everyone together as a family, though she'd failed both families in the end, first her siblings and parents, then her mate and children. That thought sobered her pretty quickly, and her ears and flakes drooped, the light sorta going out of her eyes.
"I don't think I'll ever find peace.." Lakoni nearly whispered as she looked down to her own son in sadness. "...but knowing my brother was...is alive would do me some good, but I don't want...no, I can't do it alone." The disappointment that was sure to come would be devastating to her already pretty flimsy psyche.
She felt so helpless admitting all this to a lion she barely knew, putting her life and the life of her son into his paws, but she didn't doubt the feeling that he could be trusted with such, even on a temporary basis. In fact, she'd caught the whole 'we' in that comment of 'we'll decide what to do next', but she refused to give in to hope. Hell, she was already pushing her luck with him by asking him to put aside his plans for her benefit.
"I would like to see my brother again, to know my family isn't all dead because of me for whatever reasons you'd like to pick out of thin air. I would like for Byron to meet his uncle, if it truly is him, but what if it's not? What do i do then? Where do I go?" These last questions were mostly rhetorical, ones she'd been asking herself since she'd fled for her life with her son. To see the lights again, and maybe find a wolf pack, would be more wonderful than she could explain in any words, and she doubted she'd ever leave the area again if one such place existed on this island, but could she impose herself on him and his daughter by tagging along? Wasn't it rudeness to just invite oneself on someone else's journey?
"Okay. We'll go see if this Blake is my Blake. I'm sorry for imposing upon you so much to take time out for such a task when you and your daughter had other plans. She'll love it there in the North, I'm sure. Maybe one day I'll follow in your pawsteps and take Byron myself..." Mentally, she was already trying to distance herself from him, only because she was sure it wasn't going to last, she was grasping for stability of any sort in a game of chance that didn't usually favor that happening. She was a grieving widow, and she knew anything she felt was probably stemming from that fact and in the end it came down to the idea that she didn't want to hurt this wonderful male in any way, shape or form. He deserved so much better than that, after all, and she was sure that all the signs she was getting from him was completely off from the truth. It had to be, her emotions and needs were coloring her thoughts, and so she put up a wall. Ironically it wasn't to protect herself, but him from her.
At this moment in time, Lakoni was wishing more than anything that she could cuddle up to him for a little while, bury her face in his mane and just pretend for a night that all was well, and everything was going to be okay. But, being practical, she refused to let herself give much heed to that thought since it would do nothing but cause pain to them both probably.
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