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 Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 5:19 pm
With each passing step, Antony found himself overcome by strong feelings of nostalgia. Though the woods had been his 'base of operations' and preferred residenceever since he'd reached adulthood, there was something about the region of his childhood days that just made him smile. Why hadn't he been back here earlier?
Well, there were actually a lot of reasons for that, not least of which was his festering animosity with his sister, an animousity that he knew very well was reciprocated. Where she was, he wasn't; where he was, she wasn't. A good system, and one that had stood him in good stead thus far.
However, as of late his thoughts had been turning more and more to his mother, ever since his meeting with Diabetia. He hadn't seen her in quite some time, preferring not to run the risk of seeing Neve as he could and not wishing to be drawn into any more parental 'discussions' if he could possibly help it.
He figured that it was time to do something, though; Guilian had moved on with his life, so theoretically, Izusa would have moved on with hers as well. The thought wasn't without it's discomforts, of course; last he'd heard, Izusa didn't plan on hooking up in the future with anything but another kalona, and Antony could only imagine how pleased a kalona stallion would be to see Izusa's half-breed son around. Or maybe she hadn't settled down, descending further into her madness instead. Another charming idea...
But whatever it was that he encountered, Antony was on his way to see Izusa. In spite of all the reasons why it was a bad idea, the overwhelming urge to see her, see how she was doing, and let her know he was alright were too strong.
And hopefully he wouldn't run into Neve, an angry kalona stallion, or any sort of situation that resulted in his being maimed.
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Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 6:00 am
Izusa stepped delicately along, drifting along in the shadows, parallel to her son.
Silly child.. she thought, as she went, her tendrilled tail slithering along behind her, like so many wriggling snakes. At least he looked healthy; though she could see his father in Antony, the colouring, and the wrong tail. She made a sibilant hissing noise, the mere thought of Guilian still made her blood boil.
Quite aware that she had most likely given her position away to her child, she stepped out from the cover of the trees, and stood still behind Antony, stiff-legged, wings tightly folded against her sides. Her whole body spoke of her irritation. Abandonment was a fine thing when it was the father, but when her own children had done so! Her pale eyes flashed as she looked at her son.
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Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 9:10 pm
Soft as it was, the 'ssss' of the hiss carried through the air like a twig snap; to one that rarely heard it in the woodlands, it was like receiving a calling card. One ear twitching, Antony paused almost literally in mid-step, the hairs of his mane prickling slightly as he looked around warily. He knew that sound...
And its source. Continuing in his lookaround, Antony soon fond himself turning to look behind him, and stared straight into the turbulent gaze of his mother.
Gulp.
Strange how so much time could pass, and she still made him feel like a colt who'd done something wrong. The fact that she could likely kill him without expending too much effort probably also had something to do with that...but he'd known that BEFORE deciding to seek out Izusa. Thinking about something and doing it were two different things, though...and now he was starting to psyche himself out.
Before he got too intimidated, Antony straightened up a bit, planted himself firmly, and gave Izusa a smile and nod of greeting. "Good afternoon, Mother." Lame, but a start.
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 4:45 pm
Izusa gave a slow, half smile that drew her mouth up in a disconcerting fashion, exposing one finely pointed fang. Her tail slithered around, and she walked slowly forwards, circling her son, gently sniffing the air about him as she did so. Was that a hint of fear she could detect?
'I'm your mother am I? I would find that hard to believe if I had not gone through the pain of birthing you. One would believe that if I were I would have seen more of you as a whole, not just the retreating sight of your tail once you were old enough to gallop.' she spoke in an cold whisper, her voice only just loud enough for Antony to hear.
She paused, moving away from her son.
'And so he crawls back..for what?' she fixed him with a penetrating stare, as though trying to see inside him.
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:42 pm
Still as unnerving as ever. Not that he'd expected any changes there, of course, but a stallion could hope...
The last thing that Tony wanted to do was provoke something, though, so he simply stood his ground, calm and collected in spite of the circling kalona. "Yeah, one might think that, wouldn't they? Assuming that you follow the school of thought that suggests parents and children are meant to and capable of staying in touch, of course. You most likely know why I haven't been around these parts, Mother; unless her habits have changed, she's still around."
Considering that the animousity shared by Neve and Antony went back to childhood, he didn't feel the need to elaborate on THAT point any further. Too distasteful, and repeated mention of her name might summon her. Yeah, that wasn't needed. "I've been remiss, but I had my reasons. It's not like you ever sought out me either, so I'd say we're probably on markedly similiar terms."
One thing he wasn't going to do was cry mercy or beg for forgiveness; he might not have been the most dutiful son, but she hadn't been the most dutiful mother, either, and as he saw it the blame was pretty equal. That wasn't why he'd come, either...
"Do I need a reason?"
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Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 7:37 am
'Neve stays around because she is a good daughter.' Izusa said primly, but the Kalona mare was aware of the irony that the child that looked least like her was the only one that had remained loyal.
'She understood my pain..' her voice dropped, her eyes looking away in the distance. Her head snapped up from where it had been lowering.
'Should I have? Should I have sought you out? Your mother trailing behind you, you a fine big stallion. Yes I can see that now. I can see that you would have liked that.' she snorted in disdainful amusement.
'Some call me crazy.' she shook her head at Antony, and then addressed his last question.
'After all this time? Yes. There must have been something that has bought you back here. After all, you have your enmity with Neve, and by your logic I have been a most neglectful mother.' her tail lashed on the ground as she spoke.
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Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 5:18 pm
"Yeah, well, I never had the anatomy to be a good daughter, so it's probably for the best I didn't let myself think I could be one." Antony's voice held his usual touch of wry humor as he spoke, unwilling to let even a questionable shot at humor pass him by. After all, if there was one thing he hated it was being compared; throw in the fact that it was compared to NEVE and you could possibly have one cranky stallion.
However, the last thing he planned on doing was playing the cranky game with his mother. Even if she wasn't a kalona, she was still just one of those mares (or Soquili) that one shouldn't provoke.
Though he didn't believe in cowering, either. "Beats me. Maybe I wouldn't have wanted it, or maybe I would have. It's not like you gave me the option either way, or gave me a lot of incentive to really worry. You WERE good at giving us the impresion you didn't want us around, Mother." Or at least, that was one interpretation of the constant bitterness that seemed to have subsumed Izusa's soul. Then again, as far as he knew kalona weren't exactly warm and fuzzy. So why play the blame game anymore?
"Regardless, past is past, and present is present. Why do I need a motive to do something that you seem to be giving me grief for NOT doing? If you'd rather I left, I can leave, but I WOULD like to actually spend some time catching up, if you don't mind." In spite of his somewhat caustic words, Antony was smiling as he spoke, unable to even feign unpleasantness. Hadn't Loveless thoroughly shredded his last attempts at suspicion, anyway? "I'm running the risk of seeing my sister, after all, and that's as much of a sacrifice as it would be for her to try and see Dad and risk seeing me." Perhaps even moreso, as he was the less violent of the two...at least in his own opinion.
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Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 7:24 am
'You're sister doesnt much care for affecting your sensibilities.' Izusa said, listening carefully as her son spoke, her body language slowly changing. Her tail had stilled a little, and her wings were not held quite so tightly, but she was still on edge. It was hard for her not to see Guilian, and just thinking of his name made her blood boil.
'I believe she sees her father regardless of whether you are in the vicinity or not..'
She let out a long sigh, tired for the time being of the back and forth.
'Fine son. Let us play 'happy families' for a while.' she flashed her pale eyes at him again
'What did you want to talk of?'
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Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 12:28 pm
"Then she's a great deal sneakier than I thought." Considering that Guilian had never even so much as mentioned Neve coming to see him, Tony frankly had his doubts as to whether or not his sister had actually followed through with her Guilian visits, but whatever. He could be charitable, perhaps Guilian just knew how much his son disliked Neve and simply didn't mention that she'd been around. Besides, it wasn't like he was lacking for sisterly interaction anyway, not when he had to deal with Amary living in the same area. Man, that girl was a twit when she wanted to be...
But now he was getting distracted, and that was hardly necessary. Never get distracted when you ought to be focusing.
So he brushed off his mullings to give his mother a slightly quirked smile. "Well, I don't know if I'd go THAT far, Mother. Playing happy families involves real happiness and real familiy and if those things aren't there, then one is kinda screwed. I'd be much more content to just ACTUALLY have 'non-violent familial interaction,' if you'd be so obliging. As for the subject matter..."
Here he broke off, not exactly sure what to say. After all, he didn't really HAVE a subject. "Generalities of life?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:02 am
'Yes,' Izusa answered simply, watching him in a searching manner, listening to the tone of his voice as he spoke. Needling him in this way about his sister was a small amount of penance but also fairly childish, and so she dropped that particular thread.
'You know your father isnt the innocent party in this whole affair?' she said, on the move again, her tail starting to flick once more. She would be infuriated if Guilian had been painting himself as 'whiter than white' this whole time to their children.
'My non-violence is a given, I have never attacked my children.' she said tartly.
'Life? You know what mine is. Tell me yours.'
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Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 5:28 pm
At Izusa's wry observation, Antony simply kept his mouth shut. Personally, he'd spent too much time listening to his parents 'discuss' to want to hear any more of that topic of conversation; besides, he knew that no matter what he said, it wouldn't be enough for Izusa. Besides, she knew Guilian DIDN'T think he'd done anything wrong; that was a big part of the problem with his parent's relationship in the first place, and nothing had really changed since they'd 'split'.
So he took the same track as Izusa, dropping that subject and moving into safer waters. "Physical violence isn't the only sort, Mother...and even that wasn't guaranteed. Had you seen your face at first, you might have been concerned yourself." However, Antony's expression was a smile and his tone was breezy as he spoke; having made it over the first hurdle of establishing contact, he was relaxing into his typical 'devil may care' attitude.
"And you could have done something to spice things up; I hopefully know better than to assume you're constant, Mother. I'm not constant, and no one I know is constant, so...yeah." But how to answer that himself? "Well, on a basic level, I guess you could say I make the rounds. I don't really like being in one place for too long, and I like to spend time with new and interesting Soquilis of various types. It works out." In a lot of ways, actually...
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Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 8:13 am
Izusa sniffed the air, momentarily distracted by the rustle nearby and the scent of something small and warm-blooded. She shook herself and returned to the moment, her eyes searching out Antony's.
'You know what I am. You always have. You have that inside you. Deny your heritage if you wish, and think what you will about my feelings towards my children, but I know that I never need to inflict any sort of physical attack on any of you...'
She fell silent, listening to his latter words.
'Got any of these 'new and interesting' Soquili pregnant yet then?' she asked bluntly, curious to know what, if any, of his father had emerged in her adult son.
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Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 4:14 pm
It was one thing for Izusa to say one thing, something completely different for Antony to truly believe it. Right now, she was looking at him with eyes that seemed cold but still held a sharpness of intellect about them; what was to say that thoughts of a truly different nature mightn't cross her mind when that sharpness was blurred by instability? Antony lacked Neve's advantage when dealing with Izusa of innate knowledge of her moods and mannerisms, so for him, the possibility was always to be considered.
Besides, he'd always sucked at reading body language. Easier to move on, sorta.
Though the topic she chose to move on to....well, he really wasn't surprised, all things considered. So he shrugged his shoulders and answered truthfully, "I'm not sure." After all, anything was possible, right? Especially with Loveless currently feeling the way she was, but that could be one of many things! "And just for clarification, that honestly DOES mean I'm not sure. Anything is possible, I suppose." Though he'd be perfectly happy if that maybe became a firm 'no', all things considered. "But how about you? Neve had any kids yet, or have you found a suitable kalona after all this time?"
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Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 8:49 am
Should she be surprised that his answer wasnt a straight-off reply in the negative? He was an adult, though it pained her to know that his growing had been swifter than a small part of her would have liked.
'Not sure? I would have assumed that your father would have furnished you with exact details on how to do the..deed.' Izusa tilted her head, a smirk on her face. Unless he just meant that the young lady in question was unsure of her condition..
'I don't ask after Neve, I dont really want to know details of how my blood is being watered further. The mare in question..is she Kalona?'
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Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 3:45 pm
"Well, I DID have a bit of a head-start on the sex-ed, Mother, as you well ought to know; but you should also know that until there's a definite 'no', there's a maybe. I'm not celibate, but I'm not reckless, if you're worrying about the prospects of me fathering children and not knowing about it." That wasn't his style; besides, his method of getting to know mares as friends before any potential propositions meant that whether or not things worked out, he stayed in contact. And on top of that, his blunt requesting habits meant the actual NUMBER of mares was much smaller than it might otherwise be.
Though that was a can of worms he wasn't going to go into, not feeling much like the particulars were worth explaning. He'd rather find out about what his mother meant by Neve and watering down the blood, and considering how little he was interested in Neve, that was saying something.
So instead, he merely gave his mother a toothy grin. "Is that a rhetorical question, Mother, and would you honestly believe me if I said yes?" There was the million dollar question, wasn't it? After all, even as a child he'd sucked at even pretending to be a part of the breed, refusing to hunt, hating bloodshed, and befriending regulars left and right.
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