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 Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 6:41 pm
Crow stirred. His blackened wings twitched as he fought to wake from his nightmare. He clawed at the ground, his paws digging into the ground, his face contorted in pain. In sorrow. In anger. His body calmed as he slipped further into the depth's of horrible memories, of a life long since passed.
It was a dark night...he was with...his son.
A gutteral growl escaped his lips, his brow furrowed.
They saw something they should'nt have, a murder. And unfortunately for them, the murderers saw them....
He whimpered, his back legs twitched.
They tried to run, but it was too late. They cought up with them, he tried to protect his son, but there was too many. They were at a pier...it was foggy...they were tied up. "Please, he's just a boy...please" He begged for his sons life to be spared, he was just a boy, he hadnt seen anything, spare him..please. He was curled protectively around his son, doing what he could despite the bonds that confined him. If only they would just take him instead. If they would just....BAM
"NO!" He awoke with a start, bolting upright, sweat causing his brown bangs to stick to his black fur. He was panting, golden eyes darting about, for the unseen threat. As he slowly realized where he was, his panting slowed down, eyes darted about less. His bangs were still stuck to the side of his face, but that would remain till he had a bath. His ears sagged. Was that dream? Or memory. He shuddered, unsure if he wanted to know. H pushed himself up on shaky legs, and padded towards the pond, a cool drink would help.
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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 7:06 pm
Valefor was more settled than she had been in a long while, but still... she found herself drawn out to fly in the quiet of the early morning, circling past HQ but not wanting to go there. She wanted... company. A friend. And she didn't want to go to Aear right now... since thoughts of him were part of why she hadn't been able to go back to sleep.
An inky form moved below, difficult to spot even for her hawk-eyed vision if not for the motion and the flash of white from his face. Crow... now there was a comrade sorely missed. She didn't even know why she hadn't been by to see him lately. Probably because she just wasn't the sort to want to dump her problems on her friends, even involuntarily.
She banked her wings and drifted toward the ground, backwinging a short distance behind him to land before trotted to catch up with him. She couldn't help tilting her head quizzically. "Dear friend... You couldn't sleep either?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 7:20 pm
Crow shook his head, shaking off the lingerings of his nightmare. That voice. He searched his memory, ahh that voice. He smiled softly to himself before turning face Valefor. He chuckled lightly, his tails flicking softly behind him. "It has been too long friend" he said with an inclination of his head. Oh how he'd missed her company, there were too few Kitsu's who had their past...which, was a good thing in retrospect. But still, even if they didnt speak of past lives, he was comforted by knowing he had a friend who shared one...He shook his head again, clearing his thoughts. They were so jumbled lately.
To her question, he nodded, a light smirk playing behind his painted grin. "I'm afraid i've been plauged by nightmares as of late, so i'm not too keen on sleeping" he said with a gentle smile, hidden behind his painted face.
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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 7:26 pm
Valefor chuckled wryly. "Nightmares... I think I ran out of nightmares a long time ago. Well... I suppose with new experiences come new opportunities, but I'd rather not. I prefer to sleep without dreaming..." She shook her head and padded toward the pond for a drink. "My Before had more than enough dreaming for a hundred lifetimes."
Ah, the water was cool and tasted almost sweet. Suddenly she sat, head tilted once more with a thoughtful look in her eye. "You're out here alone most of the time, aren't you?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 7:43 pm
Crow matched Valefors laugh "I only wish i could run out of them..." he said softly, with a shake of his body "It seems my Before, is coming through to me in my sleeping hours..." he said with a small frown, but after a moment, he shook that off. He hadnt seen Valefor in a long time, he was not going to start off whining about the past.
He smiled and took a drink, before answering her question. The cool water soothed his throat, it was dry from his nightmares, from the mumbling and the screaming sometimes. He tilted his head, at her question, she was the one he could never lie to. slowly, he nodded "Yes." he answered at first "There is...tension, and joy at my home. New parents, new adults, proud grandparents...i am happy for them" he added quickly "But...part of me...is saddened by it" he replied with a brief smile "Sounds silly..."
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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:18 pm
Valefor nodded sadly. "You're not the only one who's had their past life flash back to them through nightmares. I'm not really sure why some remember and some don't, and some are given back their memories in such a form..."
She trailed off and let him speak, looking down and nudging at the mask she'd taken off to drink from the pond. "You'd be surprised, perhaps... how unsilly that sounds. I know that feeling rather well." She hadn't come out here to talk about her problems either... Sigh.
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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 10:49 pm
Crow couldnt help but chuckle lightly, he nuzzled her to cheer her up, or try to atleast, he hated seeing her upset or sad, more then he hated remembering his dreams "What a pair, you and i." he said with a soft smile "Both haunted by one thing or another, both finding comfort in another who shares a similar story line...inyet not wanting to burden the other."
"However can burdens lighten, if we cannot share those with our trusted friends?" he whispered, more to himself then to Valefor. He shook his head again, clearing his thoughts "bah, i ramble" he said with a soft chuckle, shaking out his feathers.
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:00 pm
Valefor laughed too, sticking a toe in and out of one of the eyeholes on her mask, shaking her small, fine-boned head. "It might be rambling but you do have a point. Ah..." She looked thoughtful for a moment before turning her golden hawk's eyes on him. "I guess I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:16 pm
Crow watched her, he cant remember when he'd ever seen her without her mask on. She was...beautiful. He ruffled his feathers, controlling his thoughts, or at least trying to, now wasnt the time for that particular train of thought, he wasnt sure when the time was, but now, wasnt it. He smiled softly, and bowed his head, brown bangs falling infront of his painted face, causing a small un-noticable frown upon his maw. He huffed them out of his way, and turned his attention to Valefor, nodding at her question "Sounds like a wonderous idea" he said with a gentle chuckle. He sat on his huanches, midnight black tails curling around his paws.
His crow companion, hopped around close to them, and after a few minutes hopped over to the mask, tilting its head at the mask. With a shake of its body it probly figured it was better not to know, and resumed its search for grub.
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 4:01 pm
Valefor lay on her belly, paws crossed in front of her with her head raised high, eyes bright and ears forward. She couldn't help chuckling at the crow. "Charming little creature."
She tilted her head back at Crow then. "Hmm... So who starts?" It was difficult to talk about things, for her, unless she was prodded. And who better to speak to? Her friendship with Crow was rather like what she probably would have shared with Aear if they hadn't gotten so very close so quickly...
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:42 pm
He followed her example, and lied down on his belly, he curled one paw in to his chest, and brought his tails close to him. He learned from having kits around, extended tails, were fair game. And altho there were no kits around, that didnt make him feel any better, they had a tendancy to pop out of no-where. Crow chuckled again, softly, and bowed his head. "Alright, i'll start" he said with a brief glint in his golden eyes.
Crow took a couple deep breaths, he yearned to forget his nightmares, and now...he was willingly bringing them to mind. "My latest dream....is the most detailed i've ever had" he paused, biting his lower lip, before continuing "There's, a man, and a boy." He couldnt help but wince "They...We had seen something we shouldnt've, we were taken to the docks...this group of thugs, they dragged us, or drove us...i dont remember. The man begged and pleaded..." another pause as he collected himself "I..begged and pleaded, they could do anything to me, just...let him go, let the boy go" His golden orbs fell to the ground as he averted his gaze "They shot him, and then me. And that was when i woke up...." His lip twitched "I still cant tell if the man was me or not...if in my Before i was human. I know its possible, one of our household was a human in his Before...." he trailed off with a gentle shrug.
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:07 pm
Valefor listened intently, letting him finish she before she spoke, and even then she was a bit slow to start. "Human?... it... wouldn't suprise me. The markings on your face look sort of like a mask, so it might have had something to do with who you were. I know several of the kitsusagi at Trelweny's home were human in their previous life. Actually... I... sort of... was too."
She mulled it over for a moment. "My Before... there was a war. My home... we were on the outskirts of a very large city. Zanarkand. It was... destroyed. My mother, father, and younger brother were killed. My friend Ifrit... he only had his sister back then, and we're pretty sure she was killed too, though it was never confirmed. The survivors... most of us chose to become Fayth for the summoning... to dream an endless dream of the city and home and lives we'd lost. In our grief we sought to bring at least a seeming of the dead back to us... though in the long run... we lost a lot more."
"Ifrit and I became Fayth too, of a different sort... becoming a Fayth is dying of a sort. More like being trapped between life and death. Bodies turned to stone, but with the soul intact... He and I were two of a handful that chose to become Aeons... guardians of sorts, to be called by a summoner to help defeat the fiends that attacked people, but ultimately to drive back Sin, for a while. Sin was our punishment, both for the war, and for our folly in trying to revive Zanarkand. It was a monstrously huge fiend... that actually housed the dream of Zanarkand within itself. Once it was created... For a while we thought it was just punishment for those who had destroyed our home. But after a thousand years and the deaths of many innocents... Not to mention being trapped between life and death, waking and sleeping, for so long... It was ultimately one of those born within the dream that found a way to destroy Sin for good. We were glad to help by that time, even though it meant a true death for ourselves."
She shrugged. "And yet... we wound up here. A second chance. Not all of us, but... three of us, so far, and even some of those who traveled with the summoner and her Guardian born inside the Dream. It's... nice, really, to get to see them and talk to them and be with them as a friend and not just a protector. It's nice not to have to protect them from something."
Finally she trailed off for a moment. "I just wish that living again didn't bring so many... complicated relationships with it..." Looks like it would take a bit more prodding to get her to talk about Aear. Her past she could deal with... had dealt with... but this new life? Ah... It was amazing how hard things could be when you weren't an ethereal beast with lots of magical powers that could simply slip into the Farplane when you were tired of dealing with things.
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:37 pm
Crow, lifted his gaze and gave Valefor the same respect she showed him; payed attention. He nodded the odd time, at various parts of her tale. Suddenly he felt his were so...petty and small. He was surprised by the wave of anger he felt at himself for feeling so selfish in his tale. Crow smiled gently, as she finished her tale "Such a bittersweet tale...." he said softly, brows creasing in a look of concern "You have been through much...more then i could have ever imagined.."
"Complicated Relationships you say?" he asked with a tilt of his head. Oh he knew about Complicated relationships, not everyone in his house had a simple life, and even he himself had...mixed emotions that complicated things "What is life, without complications" he murmured softly, then shook his head, now wasnt the time to be philisophical "Any, in particular relationship you'd like an oustside perspective on?" he asked gently "I only wish to ease your burdens, not pry" he added, so he didnt seem the...prying type who just wanted to find out if she was single still.
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Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 12:27 am
Valefor flicked her tails and sighed softly. "Ah... the one that's bothering me doesn't really need to be... fixed. I know wherein the problem lies." She was silent for a moment. "I can tell you... but ah, it's not something that just a conversation can fix."
"AearHwesta... he's my one other truly dear friend from this new life, aside from those I live with. And even they I don't really talk to the same way I would to you or to him. He's ah..." She blushed slightly, though it was impossible to tell under her red facial fur, "A bit of a ladies man. I never got to experience... that... in my past life, and... a thousand years is a long time, you know? He's an angelic, so I knew it could never really go anywhere. I didn't intend for it to. But... we've gotten closer than either of us realized we would..." She trailed off and sighed again. "Seer... we played mom and dad for her, she was abandoned out in the woods as an egg and Aear found her. And it made me realize I wanted... a family, some day. And we can't have that. So now... we're trying to be just friends again... he didn't want to keep me from trying to find someone. It's just hard to let go, I guess..." Very hard. She and Aear still had the occasional... interlude... from time to time. "Being very old and wise apparently doesn't exclude me from making mistakes and going trough trials and tribulations." She laughed wryly at that.
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Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 12:43 am
Crow, winced at the name of Aear, he knew of the sailors reputation, his own Ahdahnia, had incidently fallen for the angelic, however Ahdahnia was young, and she recovered quickly, altho its still a soft spot for the bouncy femme. He nodded gently, he understood, even though he didnt want to.
"That is a bit of a pradicament" he said gently "Its hard to go from that level, to a differnt one...But when it comes down to it, you have to follow your heart" a gentle smile, he laid a paw on Valefors shoulder, he was momentarily shocked by the color diffrence, but he shook his head remembering the issue at hand "You deserve better then a 'ladies man'" he said with a light smirk "I know of his type, one in my own household had a...thing...with him.." he nodded, and shrugged lightly "But thats off topic." His turn for a light laugh "Your beautiful and intelligent Valefor, some good will come from your experiance with AearHwesta, you'll find someone who wants to start a family, and spend the rest of their life, telling themself its not a dream" He chuckled lightly "As highly corny as that sounds" He smiled, he himself wasnt sure if he was just trying to make her feel better or if he'd accidently let something else leak. He told himself he was just speaking truthfully.
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