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 Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 6:30 pm
At the time, it had seemed like such a good idea. 'Tell Dad the truth about your suitor's parentage, get on with your life, and it'll all work out.' Yep, that had been a great plan, alright...back when it was actually Gemma who'd be doing the talking.
Raphael wasn't exactly sure how he'd gotten into this one, but figured it had to be the same way he always did. Darn older brother soft spot. He should have done the smart thing and made Gemma do her own explaining. Then he wouldn't be standing here in front of his father, seeing that incredulous furrowing of dark brows over eyes that had darkened to bronze as Raphael's news had been processed. Now, the formerly pleased light that had shone from Zaphiro's face at seeing his oldest son had been replaced by a far less pleasant appearance, and even though he was no child to be swayed by his father's upset, Raphael couldn't help but squirm.
"I beg your pardon?" Four words, but four words heavily laden with emphasis and meaning, four words that Raphael wasn't sure he could answer the way Zaphiro was hoping. Instead, Raphael cast his eyes downwards at the ground, providing Zaphiro with all the answer the older stallion needed.
"I cannot BELIEVE this! Imagine, we actually had the child of that stallion here in our home! Here, in our home, and he never told us! SHE never told us!" Stormclouds gathered above Zaphiro's head as he spoke, his fury quiet but intense. He couldn't believe what he'd heard, but there was no reason for his son to lie.
"This is simply amazing. Gemma knows my feelings about Guilian. All of you know my feelings towards Guilian, for that matter, so WHY, pray-tell, were your mother and I not informed of this earlier? When were we to be told, after that red lecher showed up to take my grandchildren on a playdate???"
To say that Zaphiro was not impressed was an understatement, alright.
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Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 6:37 pm
The s**t. Had hit. The fan. When Raphael had told his father about Gemma's suitor's heritage, Hienna couldn't help but flinch and try to hide her obvious displeasure at it. It hadn't been for Raphael to tell, nor had it been for her to say. It had been Gemma's responsibility to her father to do so - and that was the only reason she had kept it from her mate.
The anger that was radiating off of him, even though he was mostly quiet, was enough to make Hie feel mildly ill and her head came down to nuzzle at him in an attempt to soothe.
"Because you would react like this," Hienna said softly, her voice smooth and, hopefully, calming. Gemma had never been good with confrontation, let alone with her own father!
"I take it Gemma told you, Raphael?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 6:47 pm
"How else am I supposed to react, Hienna, when my own daughter is keeping things from me? Particularly things like this?" Zaphiro was in no mood to be placated, and that showed in the stiffness of his body and the narrowness of his eyes. Pulling away from mate and son, Zaphiro stalked a few steps away, then started up his usual stressed reaction: pacing.
He honestly couldn't believe this. That his daughter had taken up with a child of GUILIAN was bad enough, but he could be big about that. After all, he hadn't known that Leon was Guilian's son in their previous meeting, and had liked the boy; did he dislike him now suddenly because of his father? Well...to be honest, not really. Though their meeting had been short, Zaphiro had been impressed with Leon's manners and behavior; he must have gotten THOSE from his mother, whoever she was. But the fact that that information had been deliberately kept from him? Inexcuseable!
Wincing a bit, Raphael pulled his gaze away from his feet as his father stalked off, giving Hienna a nod. "You know how she is, Mom; she was absolutely freaked out at the idea of telling him herself. What else should have been done?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 7:24 pm
Hienna sighed, "Zaphiro, ask yourself this. If you had known it was Guilian's son, would you have gone into that meeting with an open mind or would you have let your bias for the boy's father let you see anything that he did as wrong?" Anything touching Guilian was wrong, immediately, in Zaphiro's eyes. That was something that Hienna had learned, "And I have to say, Leon is nothing like Guilian and I don't think it should matter. I don't like Guilian either, but I liked Leon just fine."
However, Hienna knew how stubborn her mate could be - especially over things like this. She also knew that he was more hurt over Gemma not coming to him than anything else though she did feel as though a large portion of it was the fact it was, indeed, Guilian's son. Now she just had to figure out the proper portions in order to separate them and see which to attack first.
"I know," she murmured to Raphael, "But it was still her place to tell him, not ours." Her horn touched his lightly with a small click and she looked toward her mate as he stomped off. This wouldn't be fixed easily.
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Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 7:46 pm
"Please give me a LITTLE credit, Hienna. I liked Leon. I still like Leon. I happen to loathe Leon's father. You KNOW that I don't like surprises, and this is a markedly unpalatable surprise!" His voice increasing in both volume and speed, Zaphiro turned towards his mate to give her an annoyed look; what was he supposed to be, some sort of monster? Completely impervious to reasoning?
However, all of that flew out the window before an utterly knew annoyance as one of Hienna's comments caught his attention. "Hienna, are you saying you actually knew all of this already?" Utterly new bit of unprecedented news, utterly new blow to the stallion's mind. It was bad enough Gemma was keeping secrets from him, but Hienna?? "You KNEW about this, and you didn't tell me?"
His voice dropping for a moment, Zaphiro trailed off, the anger disappearaing behind a different emotion: Hurt. For a moment, he simply stared at Hienna, unable to believe that she could keep a secret like that from him...then he pivoted on a hind foot, turned, and with a running start, took to the air.
He needed to be alone for a little while, damned if he didn't. Preferably with a large quantity of very cold water.
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Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 7:51 pm
"Yes, but I also know you and I know you would have gone in expecting things about Leon and it would have affected your way of thinking of him. I--" Hienna didn't finish that comment when the hurt, rather than anger, touched her mate's face. She had hated keeping it from him, but what else was she supposed to do? It had been a rock and a hard place.
As he flew off, Hienna wilted, looking at the ground for a moment before slipping her eyes closed. Never in their matehood had she and Zaphiro fought - at least nothing more than play fighting or those tiny little naggling arguments about nothing at all that ended in laughter. This was a first, and watching him leave made her shudder.
Somewhere, in the back of her head, her mother's voice laughed. Damnit.
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Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 7:56 pm
Blinking a bit, Raphael looked from his father's departing form to his mother's suddenly small, bowed frame. It was a split second choice, but in that instant he was at his mother's side, nosing her gently. "Hey, Mom, it's ok. He'll get over it, he just needs some time to get it out of his system. I mean, that's what he does, right? Comes with having strong ideas and beliefs and all that?"
That had to be it, and she had to understand. That was the way things worked, right? "This is just something that needs thinking about, that's all. That's why Gemma didn't want to break the news, she wanted to get the initial shock out of the way and then when that's past she can talk about this like a reasonable individual with an equally reasonable Dad." Of course! That made perfect sense, that would happen, why wouldn't it?
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Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 8:04 pm
"Yeah," she said quietly, steel coming to her eyes. She would not be anything but strong in front of her children, even if they were adults. She lifted her head and looked up toward the sky, "He'll come back. He won't leave. Not like he did."
The last was simply whispered, and her head shook as she fought to keep her mother's lasting words from her mind. Zaphiro, as she'd learned many times, was nothing like the stallion that had hurt her mother. And damned if she'd listen to that voice now, right? He hadn't left. Through anything.
Maybe that was what made it so hard.
"Thank you, Raphael." Though she tried to sound convincing, she probably didn't.
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Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 8:09 pm
"Yeah...he's likely just having a vigorous fly to get all of that out of his system, or maybe one of those subzero plunges he loves so much. You watch, he's going to reappear soaking wet or else with ice crystals in his mane." Still, Raphael was a bit more rattled than he'd expected to be, all things considered. His father and mother were always a united front, with Zaphiro if anything being the rock. Even if there was a reason for it, it was weird seeing him act that way.
Obviously seeing one's children grow up was harder than simply growing pains and hormones.
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Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 8:14 pm
"He always was fond of cold water," Hienna mused quietly, a half smile touching her lips, "It was one of the first times we spoke, actually, that he got me soaked and learned that I didn't like the cold." Her head turned and she pressed a loving nuzzle to him, "Thank you, again. I think, though, you need to find your sister and tell her she needs to come home. I...need some time alone myself."
With a swish of her tail, the unicorn turned and went toward the cave where they had made their home, too much on her mind to be in front of her son, grown or not.
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