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 Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 8:47 pm
Through squinting eyes, the golden dustling watched the wind roll over the sand dunes like snakes. The bus that drove her along tousled through the desert, making her stomach churn and grumble angrily at her. She suspected, however, that it was due to nerves far more than the motion sickness. She pressed her forehead against the cool glass window and sighed.
I know you've been to hell and back for me... but I fear what you've become while I've been gone.
Vestakia was alone. Her usual entourage of friends and family was sorely missed, though she knew it was for the best. She knew she owed her life to the Professor, but she had felt trapped in their new home. It wasn't her home. And for what seemed like eternity, she struggled to adjust and get over the intense heartache of leaving her beloved behind.
...Without so much as a farewell.
Vestakia nearly fell out of her seat as the bus came to a sudden stop. Apparently, that was as far as the bus would take her. With a heavy heart that threatened to pull her under the sand, she trekked back towards the town over the horizon. It seemed... different, yet the same. She could see new structures that hadn't been there before and more creatures walking about than she had been used to in the past.
Her pace quickened as she spotted Octavian's old home. All at once, emotions and memories she had packed firmly into a little ball exploded in her chest. She began to breathe heavily and take off, bolting towards the door. Why didn't I leave sooner... why did I do this to you, Octy?
She burst through the door, panting and sweating enough to mat her fur down-- her body hadn't quite acclimated to the heat of her old environment just yet. "Octy?!"
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Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 3:46 am
The sentinel that was Vespasian stood at the peak of the roof of the clan home. Sand blew along the unused street below him, the demon a vibrant mark of color against a desert backdrop. Slowly, he stretched his wings, sunning the marks of his heritage in the lovely heat of midday. Below his claws, the females were sequestered indoors until their patriarch could return. For the moment, it was he who was the ruler. These times came more and more often, as his father drifted into his madness and loss. Vespasian did not even know why, he had never met the female who had torn out the heart of his father.
At least, from Vespasian's perspective, that was what had happened. He had a particular distaste for females from the get-go, anyway. Unwanted by his mother. Every time she looked at the sun and pink clouds on Vespasian's wings he could feel his mother's pain and hatred. The other two were spared such a fate, he imagined. They looked less like Octavian. That other angel male had even taken them under his wing as though the babies were his own, while Octavian stole the unwanted demon child away to raise him... appropriately.
The sound of screeching brakes brought Vesp out of his own memories. Beak whipped in the direction of the noise. "What the hell," he asked aloud, squinting into the distance, he saw the lone yellow dragon touch down in the StarDust desert from the confinement of the metallic monster. The wind carried a lone word to the demon, rolling it along with the sand in the street, 'Octy?'. Vespasian narrowed his eyes and watched her for a moment. She had the same gold tone to her fur that was blended into the blue hues of his half sister.
No. It couldn't be.
Leathery wings stretched to their limit, Vespasian caught the breeze and glided toward her, honestly uncertain of what he should do, but knowing that he must approach. Surely, father would not want to let her leave again, if it was her.
She broke through the door with force that surprised him, and he had to wheel in the air to land and block her exit, sunrise marked wings barring easy escape. The others in the house fled at the noise, at first supposing it was their leader returned in some sort of fury. Cicera, Lilith, Morphae, Seraph, all dove for cover. Only Auriel, the angel somewhat similar to Vestakia in appearance, lay comfortably on a pillow, unflinching. Vest would not have much time to get her bearings, however, as from behind her Vespasian demanded, "Who are you?" in the authoritative baritone inherited from his beloved father.
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Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 6:05 am
In a flurry of colorful featherfur, any dustlings that could've given Vestakia any information had dispersed-- aside from one, but Vest scarcely had even a second to open her beak. Almost as quickly as she had entered, a powerful force landed at the exit, threatening to smash through the door frame in eagerness to block her in. She immediately twisted to face him, backing into the familiar home in surprise. For a moment, the dustling's voice and colors sent a wave of warmth and longing over her heart. But that passed swiftly-- his scent was all wrong, and though she had been gone a very long time, she could never forget his exact shape and colors. "You're not Octavian," she murmured, neglecting to answer his question.
She turned and ran through the house rather than confront him, barreling into bedrooms and generally causing a scene. He has to be here! Where else could he be? It hadn't yet dawned on her that he could be anywhere, and she may end up entering hostile territory by barging into different rooms.
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Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 6:05 pm
Vespasian started to announce who he in fact was, but it was cut short. The crazed femme was tearing the house up before its guardian's eyes, and he was slack jawed for too many moments to stop it. He felt awkward in his moment of shock, and that was what gave Vestakia the reprieve she needed to search at least most of the house, before he caught up to her. "Stop. Stop. STOP woman!" he ordered, scrabbling up the stairs after her, half-cocked wings bashing the walls and making just as much of a ruckus as she was. Each room contained a different dragon in hiding, upstarted again by the continued bursting through doors. "He's not HERE!" Vespasian bellowed, stomping to a stop at the apex of the staircase. A quick glance around revealed some cleaning that needed to be done, but not much damage all in all. The demon let out a short sigh of relief, and tried to get the intruder to face him again. "Lets try once more, Who. Are. You?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 7:40 pm
Defeated by room after room of nothing but cowering dustlings, her desperate search came to a halt in front of the frustrated Vespasian. She turned her eyes, wild with this sudden and intense longing for lost love, on to this new fuchsia male. His words must be true. He is not here... And that is when she laid her eyes on those uniquely painted wings, the warm sun casting its rays over the thick membrane of skin, and she knew. Suddenly, it all made sense.
"Where is he, then?" she barked back at him, tail slapping the walls like an ornery cat and her wings outspread. She appeared ready to strike, ready to wrestle and snap her beak until she could flee downstairs and search elsewhere. "I'm a friend of your father, so just point me in his general direction and I will be on my merry way," she hissed, low and angry, her newfound knowledge of this house babysitter only serving to increase her fervor.
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Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 4:33 am
Perhaps he wouldn't have been so taken aback if he had ever been challenged, but the fury of the angel made him take a step back, though he managed to glower at her threateningly. It was only incidentally that he was still blocking the way down the stairs. A friend? His father had no friends that he was aware of. Vespasian lowered his head and took up a balanced stance. He didn't want to fight, if what she said was true, it would be his hide. "You think I know?" he growled quietly. "Believe me, lady, I try to stay out of his business as best I can. I don't want to know what he does with his time, and neither should you."
Head tilted slightly as he looked her over once more. It was hard to tell, Menhit was marked so much like their father as well. Blue eyes narrowed, damn it, his other siblings, he'd never met half of them. Impossible to know for sure. "I can't let you leave," Vesp rumbled, mulling over just how much it would take to subdue her if needed. "If what you say is true, he'll want to see you, and the best way for that to happen is for you to stay put," trying to say it gently, and calm her fire at least a little. He was a guard, not a brute, and his distaste for her gender was severely outmatched by his fear of failing his patriarch. "I don't know what he's up to, or where, I promise you."
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Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 6:31 am
As the sweet quaff of adrenaline slowly wore off, the golden angel paced about in frustration. He was right, she was sure-- if he wasn't home now, he'd be back eventually. She had kept him waiting for so very long, what was another day of waiting for her? And though she despised that this dustling in her path existed at all, she tried to calm herself down. She didn't want to know. She didn't want any update to what Octavian had been up to while she was away. But this obvious offspring and the angel that looked strangely like her lounging downstairs threatened to destroy the framework of self-esteem she had rebuilt over the years.
Have I been replaced? He says Octy would want to see me...
Vestakia's heavy breathing finally returned to normal as she gazed past Vespasian, pondering what that meant. She wasn't normally the paranoid type, but a far different scenario than intended began to pan out in her mind. Perhaps Octavian slipped into madness without her, and awaited her return with a vengeful heart. Perhaps he had a smattering of offspring across the desert by now, either trying to raise a child army or just spreading his genes across the desert...
Her thin halo flickered gently as she sighed at the floor, knowing she'd have to face him no matter what he had become or what he planned to do to her. "So be it," she murmured, her shoulders still tensed almost painfully towards this dustling but her wings and demeanor shrank back in submission. "I... will wait."
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Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 10:16 pm
Vespasian gave her a curt nod, ignoring the emotions that passed over the older femme's face. He was forced into politeness, not empathy. "Good," he breathed, taking a short moment to thank the stars above that he wouldn't have to restrain her. Regardless, it still looked distinctly like the other wanted nothing to do with him. So be it. The demon turned, and forced his bulk back down the stairs to try and do away with some of the wreck their chase had created. "You're welcome to... whatever it is you need," he barked back up at her gruffly.
Father would be home any time now. Wouldn't he? Vespasian mused over the prospects as he meandered back towards guard duty and the desert sun.
The others stayed indoors, but it was only the angel downstairs who seemed to be offering any sort of fearless company in the meantime.
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