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 Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 2:53 pm
Finally, something made that smile falter that hadn't been an accident. And yet, mixed with the reassurance that she was still in control was a tinge of guilt as Hausos grew small once again. It was then that Hecate realized that this wasn't a mask he was putting on--that he was just genuinely a lost ethereal that had wandered from home and found her by chance. And she was treating him like...like he was an enemy. Like Father had taught her to.
Her ears pinned back, and she looked away from him again, this time confronting her own confused, frustrated emotions. For all the hot air she blew saying she was in control, she was still acting like her father's suspicious little girl. Confronted with something new and maybe even "good", all she could do was want to control it, or begin bubbling with envy. How childish. Wasn't she still just a child, though?
"Sorry," she said abruptly, her back still to him. "I'm...not used to talking to other wolves like this. It's weird." An understatement.
Sighing through her nose, Hecate turned back to him with something resembling contrition on her face, though her natural glower tainted it. "Is your home far? I can try to sneak in."
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 3:15 pm
"…heh. Yeah. I can understand that, I guess…" Though it might have been a completely different brand of interaction that Hecate had been used to, Hausos seemed to have only one form of relationship, like a prince on a high tower surrounded only by doting attendants loyal to his mother. The adolescent could only assume that he was the strange one, here. Maybe the whole world was like this, like her, and he was just a lost fish out of water.
As she spoke, her back turned towards him, he didn't make any concerted effort to get closer or to get back into her field of view. He had, he decided, maybe been a bit too forward. And the last thing Hausos wanted to do was put off his new friend.
'I can try to sneak in'
His ears perked and he did his best to dampen his excitement. It was an effort he was…. not so great at. "It's on the other side of the ridge! Momma says the plants grow best where they can see the sun rise." His tail swayed back and forth behind him. His voice dropped in volume, becoming conspiratorial once again. "Up the ridge and over, to where the flowers glow when it gets dark. Momma and her helpers to go sleep when the sun goes down. She usually wants me to go with them, but I can meet you just outside, at the spot where the purple flowers grow. It's the highest spot, and if you stand there it's the last spot on that side where you can see the sun before it sets." His eagerness was plain on his face. His head was thumping in his chest again, his mind already making grand plans on what he would show her when she came to visit. All the different flowers glowing in the night, the same way her eyes and spots were bright against her dark pelt.
There was a pause, then, as he considered his next question carefully. Still quiet, as if trying not to impose. "What... what's your name?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 3:31 pm
Helpers? How many creatures were there? Were they as numerous as the flowers? Did they all radiate like Hausos did? For a moment, Hecate felt dwarfed as her imagination took hold while he spoke. But she wasn't so distracted that she didn't commit to memory the exact directions he gave her to find him: on the other side of the ridge where they could meet the sun like the plants they tended to, and where they might also glow in the twilight. Where the flowers grew like a physical rainbow, reaching up instead of down. Maybe they and the ones that watched over them wouldn't kill her if she got close like the mushrooms did.
Not that she would. It would be reckless to endanger them like that.
It was starting to get lighter, though. When had that happened? Hecate's heart began to thump as well in nervousness and budding excitement, much as she tried to tamp it down. She wanted to believe him--maybe she ought to. A promise had to be kept, right? They were sacred. But she needed to get back before it got too bright to use the shadows, before Father woke up and looked for her.
She began to back towards the bushes she had first stalked him through but stopped at his quiet question. She met his gaze like she had at the beginning, unblinking but no longer hostile. Pleading, even, though she wouldn't admit it. "Hecate," she whispered, like it was a secret she was afraid would be overheard. "It's Hecate. Don't forget...Hausos."
Inky darkness pooled over her like water, and it was like she had never been there.
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 3:41 pm
"Hecate," he repeated. His voice seem to cradle the name like it were some precious thing held in his paws. He smiled at her. It was a warm and hopeful expression. This was it. Finally. A link to the outside world. He had finally stretched his roots out from under the watchful eye of his mother. His new friend. Something that was his.
"I won't forget."
Quietly, softly, he snuck off and away from her into the underbrush. Hausos would have to make plans. He'd have to decide all the things he would show her. This was something new, and he felt hopeful. Hopeful of the world outside his little domain, regardless of what it might be like. He doubted that it wa the world of death and despair that his mother had described to him, despite what evidence this morning had given. Even if it was… darker than he might have imagined, there was her. There was at least one shining light in the dark.
Hausos glanced back towards her before he disappeared from sight, only to find her already disappeared. He spoke into the shadows, hoping she might be near enough to hear him. "I'll see you, okay?"
He wouldn’t. Not that night, nor the one after. In fact, what would seem like lifetimes would pass before he met his light in the dark again.
[fin]
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