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 Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 8:19 pm
Somehow, strangely, the bickering couple reminded him of his parents.
Or not so strangely. Mother was an Elder, not a regular fox, but Father was a 'deava, and he had heard Father complain about Mother and her parenting skills plenty of times before. As for Mother...while she had never openly said anything against Father, she had still never attempted to see him after they had split up Caolan and his siblings among the two of them, and Caolan understood that meant Mother had no desire to see Father, either.
"It's strange that a couple like that could be happy together." He tried to imagine Mother and Father together and happy, but it just wasn't an image his mind could hold.
Maybe he should be depressed by that, but he wasn't, really--that was simply how life was. He was away from his family now anyway, and so they weren't a worry of his anymore.
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Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 8:28 pm
Tamo chuckled. "Tell me about it. They seemed to work together though, so I assume they have some kind of history that brought them together." He was pretty sure the grumpiness exuding from the two was more of a front, but all the same he'd been glad when they left; they weren't the most restful of companions to be around.
"Me, I can't see myself with someone I have to constantly argue with." Tamo wasn't even sure he knew how to argue. He was so pacifistic he just caved most of the time.
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Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 9:16 pm
"If I wanted to constantly argue with someone, I'd visit my sister." Caolas's face twisted into a half-smile at his poor attempt at humor. Compared to Arian, the rest of his family was even tolerable, so he was especially glad to be away from her.
"What sort of person can you see yourself with?" Caolan asked, idly curious. He'd never given much thought to mates--in the back of his mind, he thought perhaps he would stay mateless, as Mother had.
Although even Mother had had children. Twice, even. Was it really so impossible to be alone in the world...?
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Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 9:33 pm
Tamo chuckled at Cao's humorous remark. He didn't remember a whole lot about Cao's family, and to be honest Cao didn't really talk about them much, but he did remember enough to understand the joke. Then he paused to consider Cao's question.
"Hmmm. Well gender doesn't seem to make too much difference to me. I'd like someone quiet, nonconfrontational. Someone who shares my taste in living areas," he added, laughing a little at the half-joke; he didn't officially live here yet, this was just a good winter berth.
"Someone who could look after themselves. I'll all about protection and everything, but I'm not a knight in shining armor who loves constantly slaying dragons or saving damsels in distress." Tamo made a face at that mental image. "Airashi was the closest I found to those ideals," he murmered, half to himself. Airashi had been very nice, but Tamo could only picture him as a friend.
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Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 10:00 pm
Caolan chuckled a little at Tamo's joke, but stopped when he said that Airashi was the closest thing he had found to a mate.
"Is he? Going to become your mate?" Caolan wondered at the slight edge he heard in his voice. If his friend had found a mate, he should be happy for him, shouldn't he? So why the edge in his voice? Why was he going down the list of things Tamo had said, and noting that they all fit Caolan as well--that he was quiet, that he rather liked this barren place, that he could look after himself just fine after having grown up with Arian...
Did it matter? Really?
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Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 10:25 pm
Tamo shook his head, hearing the slight edge in Cao's voice and wondering if he'd said something wrong. "Airashi's off on his own wanderings, looking for a place to call home and such like I am. Our relationship is a friendship, no romance."
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Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 10:47 pm
Caolan relaxed a little, and then suddenly wondered since when he had been so tense in the first place.
"You don't have anyone you like then."
Oh. That was why. He was relieved. Relieved he would get to have Tamotsu to himself.
And since when did he have any claim to the red fox in the first place...?
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Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 11:08 pm
Tamo turned his head away, black eyes staring off into the sparse forest ahead. "I wouldn't say there's no one I like," he said slowly. "More like there's no one who.....is like that." He let out a short laugh, blushing a little. "If I'm not careful I'll grow old and alone!"
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Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 1:13 am
While he was curious about who it was that Tamo liked--nearly dying to find out, even--he couldn't outright ask. More of Mother's lessons he couldn't get away from. More of his family that was clinging to him, even though he had left the actual foxes as soon as was grown up. Would he never be free of them?
Instead, he asked something else: "Would being alone be that bad?" He supposed it might be something a normal fox might want to avoid. But Mother seemed content to remain single, he doubted Arian would ever find a mate with her attitude, knew nothing of what Father was or wasn't doing about finding an actual mate, and of course Caolan himself didn't want much to do with other foxes in general, let alone something like a mate...In short, it wasn't the best background to have, for something like this. He was honestly clueless.
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Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 1:45 am
Tamo shrugged, and the soft smile and distant look in his eyes showed he picturing a time and moment quite different from where he and Caolan stood now. "I suppose being single isn't so bad now, and I know a lot of others prefer it. I can't see that being my whole life though."
Now Tamo's eyes were back to the present, and his tone took on the firmness of absolute conviction. "I know one day I'll find someone to love and grow old with, and have lots of kids of my own someday."
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Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 2:10 am
"I wish you good luck with that." He was serious, too: he knew that just because he was perfectly content with his alone lot in life, it didn't mean that everyone else had to be the same.
Although he had to question the wisdom of having kids. Experience had shown him how he and his siblings had turned out, and something like that (a child with a temper like Arian's; a detached and dispassionate son like himself, and from what little he had seen of Ilan, his brother seemed to be much the same; a son who was odd and spacey like Imri; Talya, who was unhappy because they were all so dysfunctional; of them all Dervla was the only one who may have turned out okay) was not something he'd wish on anyone.
"Kids, huh," was all he had to say on the subject, though.
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Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 2:23 am
Tamo nodded. "I'm not talking about right now or anything," he said, chuckling in an embarassed manner. "The widely agreed upon rule is that it takes two to make kits, and I'm still a one."
His face was quite serious, though you couldn't doubt his sincerity as he spoke. "Whoever I spend the rest of my life with, I'm hoping they'll feel the same way. It wouldn't have to be an immediate thing, I can wait until we settle down and feel more comfortable with our lives before we talk children. I just know someday I want them."
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Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 2:30 am
"I hope you have more luck than my family did," was all Caolan said. Only Dervla--if even her--had turned out normal. While Caolan didn't mind the way he was--was quite happy, now that he was away from family, and with Tamo, to be honest--he knew he was far from an ideal son, and that the same held true for his similar brother Ilan.
Tamo's talk of twos and ones reminded Caolan that Tamo had said he had someone he liked. The question was beginning to gnaw on Caolan slightly, but he still couldn't force himself to voice it yet.
Part of him wondered if Mother would be proud to know her teachings had stuck with him so well. He wasn't sure if she cared or not.
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Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 2:50 am
The gentle smile Tamo gave Cao was touched with just a hint of melancholy. "You don't really like families much." It was more of a statement than a question. Caolan didn't really talk too much about his past, at least not in detail. Tamo could tell anyone that it was most cause Cao thought his family was insane, but he didn't know how far that dislike streched beyond his blood relatives.
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Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 3:44 am
"Not my family," Caolan agreed. "I haven't met any families besides my own. Maybe others are better." He shrugged, somewhat indifferent on the thought of families outside his own. Maybe others were better, maybe they weren't: he didn't care much either way.
Well, certainly he had no desire to meet Yabetz's family, if they were even remotely like the masked fox. But if Tamo had had a family--or rather, known his family--maybe Caolan wouldn't have minded meeting them, if they were like Tamo.
But the orange fox didn't know his family, and so if Caolan wanted to meet them or not (and it was hardly a topic he had given much thought to) was a moot point.
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