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 Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 7:55 pm
Dannin puts a hand on Yuki's shoulder, "You're an easy person to talk to Yuki-san, a rare gift with people like me. Because of this double-face we're pulling, you may get to know more about me than you want to, but it'll be nice to talk to someone who remembers the clans for a change."
She glances at the house, "you wanna head inside or stay out here for a while?"
*****************
Ryo tries not to snicker at Anubis. This was not the Anubis he remembered, but then again, he hadn't know Anubis very long. He knows the name Kaylyn, a name Dannin said was her elder sister's but never spoke of Kaylyn freely. It was part of some dark secret that, even though they would be wed, she would not tell him.
"Anubis, Shade," he says after a moment, "Dannin never talks about Kaylyn after the war started. Can either of you tell me what happened?"
((if it's a yes, PM and I will give you the full answer. How much you give to Ryo is up to you wink ))
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 10:03 pm
(chat with me and Shade..hehe)
Anubis and Shade both go very, very quiet at that all of a sudden, looking at Ryo in surprise, before lloking at each other, then away. Anubis shakes his head, and Shade sighs softly. "Kaylyn, hm..... She.... died a very long time ago."
Ryo raises an eyebrow, "Uh...I pulled that out of her a while back."
Anubis's eyes focus out a window nearby, as Shade looks at the redhead for a moment, before looking back down at the ground. ".....come with me. You too, Anubis." He looked at her almost accusingly, and she calmly met his gaze. "Fine. But I'm leaving well before the story's finished." Shade nods, and leads them to her cottage, the entry room a sitting space wiht comfortable chairs. Shade curls up in one, and her eys seem to focus far away in the past as Anubis stands near a window by the door.
Ryo follows and grabs a chair where he can see both of them.
"Back then.... Kaylyn was like a sister to me, before the real war broke out. Alaric was closer than a brother.... or are you even familiar with his name?"
Anubis's fist tightened on the windowsill, ash Shade began speaking, his gaze fixed on the ocean outside the window.
"Alaric, no," he says, "never came up."
Ryo shakes his head, "All I know what Kaylyn died in that war, something terrible happened I guess. Then Dannin ended up a Warlady."
Shade's eyes had paled to an almost ghostly white, as Shade seemed to pause. "There is a part of this story that you must hear from Dannin and nobody else, because it is her story, not mine but... I guess I should begin farther in the past than I hoped I'd have to." She reached to a thin chain on her neck, and toyed with the ring on it, one that matched it on her left ring finger catching the sunlight.
Anubis said nothing, leaving Shade to do the tallking.
"Something terrible happened would be an understatement. Back then.... I was not as I am now, too many good people died...." a pause.
shade_hopesong: "Alaric was Kaylyn's husband, a surrogaste brother as it were to Dannin and Anubis, befor that day.... and a very close friend of mine. He.... died in a manner much like you believed Anubis had died, pasing on the armor of Loyalty to Kaylyn's little brother to save his life. At the cost of Alaric's own."
It was now that Anubis left, though from the sounds, he sat outside under the open window.
A sad smile. "I can;t think of alaric without thinking of Michael, or Hariel, or Celeste.... or Kay."
"So that's how he got it," Ryo says, "Dannin said armors were passed down by clans and she had hers. I always wondered."
"That is the way it used to be. When the clans dissolved, the armors saught bearers that served the same purposes as the virtues. Dannin is a throwback to what her clan used to be. It's why she has kitten ears."
She sighed agian, finally meeting Ryo's gaze, and the ronin could somehow see that she truly was *old* old... really had been there, so many thousands of years ago.... and remembered as clearly as if it were yesterday
Ryo chuckes at the ear comment, "Whatever you do, don't pull on them."
That earned a dry chuckle. "True that. It was my favorite way to tease her when she was small."
Again, a distant look. "Before she got her armor, at least....."
Ryo thinks on the facts for a bit, "okay, so Alaric was married to Kaylyn and died to protect Anubis. You mentioned Hariel. That's the name of the first Ronin to bear the Inferno armor."
"Hariel and Anubis and Alaric.... and Michael... were all very good friends. Hariel was the HAriel you're thinking about. Though, he did not realize the extent of his stregnth at the time... Alaric died to protect Anubis because he knew Kaylyn would not be alone, even though I was no longer on their side of the fight. After Kaylyn's death, it was Hariel who took her back for her funeral. I was not there, but I heard it was a beautiful one. She deserved so much more...." The regret ih Shade's voice was all but tangible, as was the sound of loss in her voice when she mentioned Alaric Hariel and Michael.
Dani: Ryo leans forward, "How did she die?"
Shade was silent for a long minute. "....that.... beyond that it was in a battle, is not my story to tell. Even though I'm as much to blame for it as anyone else, perhaps even a little more to blame than most... that is all I will tell you. It should never have come to what it did, though I don;t think Dannin knows how much I knew about it and never told her."
From outside the window, "You're to blame? They were both my sisters, Shade." "Yes, Anubis, but you weren't there. I could have stopped it before it was too late."
"But you said she was your friend and you didn't actually go to the funeral," Ryo says, "where were you two?"
Shade looked away, out the window. "Sealed away in the Netherworld with Dannin, where else? I promised Alaric I would look after Kaylyn's younger siblings... though by the time she died, given the choice, I would not have gone to her funeral anyway." There was regret and sandess in Shade's voice. "Anubis had no choice, by that time, he was already one of Talpa's warlords, and I...." she trailed off, once again not finishing a thought.
"You what?" Ryo says
She looked down, at her hands, which had fisted on the hem of her shirt, back out the window, then back down, everywhere but at Ryo. "You remember that I was once Hopesong?"
"Somewhat, it's been a while since you've used the name," Ryo says.
shade_hopesong: "If you hear me calling myself that, don;t make the mistake they did. I hated Hariel and everything to do with the positive-virtued Armors, and I hated myself as well- myself as I would become, anyway.... just before Anubis got his Armor, I sided with Tusuki against all of them. In the end it meant I looked out for Dannin and Anubis, but looking back.... how well I deluded myself. I should have gone to her funeral- rather, I should have prevented her from needing one and didn;t." Bitterness laced her tone now, and a self-loathing that she kept VERY well hidden normally. "I became the dark warlord hopesong just before Alaric died."
"I never expected you as a Warlady," Ryo shakes his head, "now Dannin, with that temper, I can see."
That earned a dry smile. "That temper.... it's a family trait, I'm afraid. If the two of you plan on having any kids, be forewarned. Heavens, when Kaylyn got angry..... "
"As for me, let's leave it at that what caused it.... was pain. Depression. Going dark was sort of a replacement for suicide." she shrugged.
Dani: "I think I need to have a long talk with Danni before we start fighting anyone," Ryo says, "Hey, Anubis, on a bright note, I know we didn't get off on the right foot all those years ago, but it's good to have you back."
".....Sure. You might say I came around in the end, thanks to you. From what Shade told me, you did the same favor for my sister." Shade sighed, and managed a small chuckle. "Be careful, ryo. It's a painful subject for Dannin, and for us. Broach the subject gently and in private."
"Thanks for the warning," Ryo nodds as he stands. He peeks out the window, "You know, that was more youself that you take credit for."
shade_hopesong: a pause, and a real smile, abeit a dry one. "And do so in a place where she is not within reach of any weapons, I don;t want her coming after me for it."
Anubis looked up. "Perhaps. For what it's worth.... so long as she;s happy, you have my blessing with my sister."
"That means a lot, at least to me," Ryo gives a small smile, "you know, she'll want you involved. My parent died a few years before I first came here and I didn't have any siblings."
In unison from Shade and Anubis, "Break Dannin's heart and I'll kill you."
"Meep..." Ryo swollows, "Man, you two are scarry. No worries, I'll watch out for her, I have for a while not anyway."
Shade smiled sadly. "Sorry, didn;t mean to scare you. Go, she'll need your trust and support more than you know, and now is perhaps as good a time as any for that talk."
Ryo nodds slowly.
"Don't worry, somehow I think tonight will be a long night."
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 10:27 pm
After Ryo left, Shade spoke to the window.
"A long night indeed."
Anubis stood and looked in at her.
"You could have stopped it?"
Shade nods slowly, befre looking down at her hands. Anubis continued to look at her, for several minutes.
"And you didn't?"
Again a nod.
Another several minutes pass, the ocean waves and birdsong the only noise in Shade's spartain cottage.
"My older sister died at the hands of my baby sister, and you could have stopped it from happening. Kaylyn is dead, adn Dannin was broken, and still IS broken, because you did nothing?"
"You weren't there, Anubis."
"They were my sisters. Your friends! I can understand broken loyalty, Shade. I was that once, remember? I wasn;t there because you saw too it I was elsewhere."
"You being there or not would not have changed anything."
"Maybe. But we'll never know, will we? Because you WERE there, and did nothing, while I was half a world away, and never knew what was going on until after I found Dannin alone, sobbing, in my room."
".....Where I told you to look for her."
"Because I heard Kaylyn was dead. People change, sure, but what you did to them is unforgivable. You never told me you could have done something."
".....Because I knew you would react this way. I thought it would hurt you less if you did not know."
"Kaylyn trusted you, Shade. Alaric trusted you. They all trusted you. I don't anymore."
Anubis left, as tears ran down Shade's cheeks, onto her black shirt.
*********************************************************
Anubis went into his room- ironically, right next to the one Ryo had selected, and slammed the door.
He flopped on the bed, facefirst into the pillow, and quietly cried into it, mourning his sister, an anger he thought past rising against Shade, the one who brought him back to life.... and the one who let Kaylyn, his corageous, beautiful, strong older sister die.
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 6:38 am
"My mother use to tell me I was an easy person to talk to, and between you and me, it's only because I can pretend to listen very well, especially when she was talking. Dannin, whenever you want to talk, I'm there, whether or not I'm really listening," Yuki added with a playful smile.
"But I think Ryo wants to talk to you," Yuki said as she looked up the road to the main house and saw Ryo headed their way. "I think I will sit here with you until he arrives. Should you need privacy," Yuki said as she looked at Dannin, "just turn the TV up. I don't know how sound tight these cottages are."
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 10:30 am
Dannin smiles a thank you as Ryo walks up. He smiles a bit at Yuki.
"Dannin, I need to talk to you," he say, "can we go for a walk?"
Dannin nodds, taking his hand. The two walk into the woods, finding a creek and sitting beside it. Ryo speaks, choosing his words carefully.
"I was talking to Shade and Anubis," he says, "about your sister. She sounds like she was a brave and wise warrior."
"She was the leader of the Wildcat warriors," she says, "it was her idea, along with Kaos, to summon the clans to a summit to stop the Wolfriders."
"But there is one thing they wouldn't tell me," he says, "how she died. Something terrible happened, and I want to know. You're my love Danni, and I want to be a part of you. But you can't hold back with me, our children will be Wildcats too, the first in a long time."
Dannin takes a long breath and lets it out slowly. She lays back in the grass, staring at the sky.
"I guess it's time you knew," she says, "it was a long time ago and I don't remember a lot of detail. I was with Tusuki at the time, partly my choice and partly I was tricked into it. I had to memory of Kay or the Wildcats, the only memory of family I kept was Anubis as my brother. There was a battle, one of the last gamibts we made before the end of the war. I ended up in combat with Kaylyn, but we didn't know each other. We blew off each others masks. She paused and I....."
She closes her eyes, feeling tears and trying to hold them back. Regret, anger, and saddness att wrack her soul.
"I struck," she says, "and she died."
"I'm sorry," Ryo says, "I wish I had been there."
"You would have died too," she says, "I killed my sister Ryo, I would have killed you too."
Then suddenly, she stood and walked away. Ryo got up to follow, but she faded into the trees. He sighs, heading back to the house.
Using her old powers of a Warlady, Dannin rides the shadows. She walks out in Anubis' room and sits beside him.
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 2:29 pm
Anubis picked his face up as Dannin sat next to him- she could see he had been crying.
The first words out of his mouth:
"Never trust Shade."
He plopped his head back on the pillow, but one of his hands reached for Dannin's, in the privacy of the room, for comfort.
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 5:10 pm
Dannin takes his hand, leaning on his back like she had as a child.
"She has never told the whole truth, and yet she has been loyal to the balance in life," she says, "I know I never got the chance to be a child. What did she tell you?"
She closes her eyes, her cat ears rubbing on his shirt.
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 5:11 pm
Lena was still in awe, but awe was quickly fading away. She felt a slow sense of duty comming back to her and had soon emmersed herself in the library, looking at book after book. Dust rose, coating her clothing and she paid no attention to it. Trying hard to remember the words of her long lived grandmother, Celeste, a warning, something to watch for. Something, ANYTHING, would have been absolutely wonderful.
Muttering to herself, she rubbed her temples, "How did Celeste manage to do such great things? How was it she survived that war that ravaged our people, and brought them back? It makes no sense. How did she command these things and just always -know- what to do? Bah!"
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 7:52 pm
Kaze, the spirit of a small breeze, floated over near Lena, blowing some of the dust about her face accidentally. The tiny, fragile thing was always timid, LEna usually saw it fluttering near Shade, or in her wake, never anywhere it could get hurt. She hadn;t even had the chance to talk to it yet.
::Lena... Lena-hime.... ::
the tiny sprite sounded worried, and brought with it on the wind, the sound of very very soft crying. More like shuddering breath, and the ghost of a sound of tears. The only reason Lena knew it wasn;t the spirit's crying was that the spirit sopunded worried, not in tears.
**********************************************************
Anubis sighed, and turned over, face up, cradling Dannin against him, as he had done when they were both younger.
"When Ryo asked us about Kay.... she said she could have stopped the fight, and didn;t. She could have saved Kay, kept you whole, and she didn;t."
He caressed Dannin's ears, and tugged gently on one, teasingly, as he did long ago.
"I always knew she never told the whole truth, but I at least thought she could be trusted. What she said.... she's not loyal to anything, or anyone, imouto."
a pause.
"We can;t trust her, even if she never lies."
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 9:54 pm
Just as Ryo and Dannin were walking away into the woods, Yuki saw the familiar sillowette of Rowen leaving the mansion and heading towards her cabin. She sighed. What was up with that boy?
"What?" she nearly bellowed when he was closer.
"I was hoping to be able to speak to you in private..."Rowen answered tactfully.
"I guess you should come in then," Yuki muttered as she walked into her cabin and turned the lights on. She let Rowen close the door and as she fell into one of the chairs. "I repeat my question. What?"
"Well, I know," yada, yada "not the best time I know" yada, yada "would you like to see a movie sometime or something?"
Yuki blinked several times. Okay, not prepared for that. 'I don't trust you.' I was prepared for but definately not. 'I like you,' Yuki thought as she figured out a responce. Only one way to go about this. "I'm not into men," was the only responce that she gave him. She left out the part about not being into anything or anyone. He didn't need to know that.
"Well, I'm sorry" yada, yada "see you tomorrow?"
"Sure," Yuki said as she walked him out of her door and locked it behind him. "That was wierd," she muttered as she started to look around the cabin.
************************************************************
Rowen entered the house and looked around for Sage. He found him in his room.
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Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 8:37 am
Sage looked up from where he sat, meditation halfway interupted as he raised an eyebrow at Rowen, "Ro?"
`*~*~*~*~*~
Lena blinked, her attention on the spirit before her, "What is it, m'friend? And please, just Lena. I'm no hime here on this planet. Back home maybe, but not here."
Raising a hand, she offered Kaze a chance to land upon it, praying Inigashi wouldn't be near to flare up at a strange spirit.
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Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 8:53 am
Kaze flitted arund Lena's hand, nervously, obviously looking around for any of Lena's normal spirits- it was plain that she'd never get her answer if the sprite got scared off by ANY of the others showing up.
How the sprite fluttered near Shade had to be a minor miracle.
::B-b-but you are Lena-hime.... just like she was Celeste-hime...::
Finally flittering to barely grace Lena's fingertips, the wind sprite got out why she had come.
::...my friend is crying... ....and we can't help....::
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Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 9:02 am
Shade left her place, drying her tears so nobody would know she had been crying. For her to look sad.... was not uncommon, lately.
She had her katana, and walked out to a line of posts placed in the water, that in turn led to a small, flat rock that wuld dissappear underwater when the tide was high, but for now, in the calm lagoon.... the rock she headed for was out of view until you rounded a small turn to face a sheltered cove.
She began a kata, an elaborate and beautiful one, but her sadness was almost painfully obvious, as, though she wished not to, a tear every now and then would trace its way down her cheek.
Kaylyn... I wonder if you would ever have forgiven me for what I did, if you had survived? Anubis never will... and if he has told Dannin, I don't think she would, either... and here's the rub, I could still stop my past self from doing all of those things, or rather, condemning you all by inaction.
Her kata resembled a dance, though because of her mood, a dance that was so beautiful, and so sad, it would make an onlooker cry.
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Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 9:24 am
"We have each other," Dannin says, "that's what matters. Anubis, I trusted you one in a dark world, I need your help again. Shade may or may not be trusted, the whole thing has my brain in a cramp. We have bigger problems."
She nuzzles him for a moment, "I am playing two sides. Tusuki is back in power in the other world, but there is something bigger happening, something that is making Tusuki call an alliance with the Ronins. I am still loyal to Tusuki, things could have been worse for both of us if not for her, and she still is my friend. But I love Ryo and I know that Tusuki's ways are wrong, in fact, she is half-mad all ready. I have an ally with me, Yuki, but it's just the two of us. With you here, if you play along, it would be three of us, and that just might be enough to pull off my plan."
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Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 9:30 am
"Do you really think Tusuki would believe I would go back? You know I'm a terrible actor. That's whay Tusuki, and ultimately Talpa, never sent me on any.... covert operatioins, as it were."
He toyed wiht a round orb that read Loyalty, and sighed.
"If you think it will work.... Maybe I could play semipermanent emmisary or something."
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