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 Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 8:20 pm
 Ari waited in the clearing, on neutral land, waiting for the others he had called to show up. He was able to (mostly) ignore that this was the first time he was attending to tribe business without Kazuki. Well, there was the tending to the tribe, and the occasional new member, but that was daily life, not exactly the sort of thing he could've gotten away from, even if he'd wanted to.
This...this sort of thing was something else, though, and he would have welcomed not having to face it alone.
As it was, facing it alone was his only choice. He tried not to think about that too much while he waited for the others to come.
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Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 11:11 am
 This couldn't be good. Getting called to a meeting with Ari and her father? No, there was no way this could be good. Victoria sighed as she made her way to the meeting spot. She felt weird coming here and honestly, didn't want to face her Elder. Of course, she knew what this meeting must be about. Loki.
A smile formed on her face as she thought his name. Would he be at the meeting too? Or was it just Ari and her father she was meeting with? Would she never be allowed to see him again? The dark vixen pushed back the panic that was growing inside of her. Her tribe might not approve of her relationship with Loki but they wouldn't be that mean.... Would they?
Victoria hadn't even noticed she'd reached the clearing until she spotted the bright blue fur of her elder. Ari seemed to be the only one who had arrived early. Tori walked over and sat down in front of him without saying a word. Her ears fell back and she avoided his gaze. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was in trouble for something.
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Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2010 1:11 am
 Loki knew exactly why he was in this strip of no-man's land, and it was going to be a headache. He'd known from that start that he and Tori would have to defend their relationship, and it was going to be moderately awkward doing so to an Elder barely older than him. But Ari wanted to talk this out, Loki would suck up his pride and go, if only for Tori's sake.
After all, he owed Ari nothing for his decisions, and he wasn't going to grovel or anything else of the sort if Lunarie's Elder tried that.
After awhile he spotted said Elder and Tori. He felt bad for her in this situation; he could handle his own, because both he and Ari would have to be respectful, at least to a degree, to each other. But he had a feeling Tori was going to get pretty serious grief over his tribe, his being an Elder, and especially his age. It'd only be worse if her parents had been called too.
He mentally shook his head at it all, reminding himself that nothing said was going to change what had already happened.
He stopped next to Tori but didn't sit down, instead giving his mate a shield if she wanted one, and he certainly didn't pull his ears back. Ari didn't intimidate him.
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Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2010 5:46 pm
Vitali had planned to be there first of all, but of course, life had gotten in the way. Reyes had gotten in a fight with a wandering male, so he'd had to break that up, and then Fitzroy had come slinking up to him complaining of having to be social.
Grumbling under his breath as he moved as quickly as he could through the forest to get to the designated meeting spot, Vitali mentally prepared himself.
Well, alright, he tried to mentally prepare himself. No father was ever prepared for his daughter to get a mate, and no father was ever prepared for that mate to be older than he himself.
Repressing this gag reflex as he arrive on the scene (only slightly out of breath), Tali resisted the urge to bar his teeth at the black and green Elder. Did he think Ari would help him if it came to that? Yes. Did he also want to calmly try to make Victoria return to the land of the sane? Yes, and at the moment, that was the most pressing concern.
Vitali joined the other three, not stopping at Ari's side; instead, he went over and licked Tori's cheek; she had been gone for much to long.
"Hello, daughter," Tali greeted her softly, nuzzling her cheek affectionately. He didn't care that he was embarrassing her--there were some things a father was allowed to do matter the situation.
After a moment, Tali (reluctantly) returned to his Elder's side, despite disliking the fact that it seemed that they were set up in 'sides' and 'teams' and that this was going to be a competition or a debate or an argument or whatever you wanted to call it.
He took a deep breath to stead himself as his black tail swished the ground behind him.
"Good evening," Tali greeted the group at large, his eyes now fixed on the much-larger fox that stood next to his baby girl. He felt himself tense as the all-too-familiar-by-now thoughts ran through his head; how he wished his mate could be here. She was so much better at handling things like this than he was...
Mentally sighing, he looked up at Ari expectantly, obviously under the impression that he would be the first to start the discussion--mostly because he wasn't sure he could be calm and logical when it came to his daughter, at least not logical enough to make a convincing argument against the relationship, anyway.
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Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2010 6:28 pm
They were all here now, and, what was more, staring at each other blankly. Obviously no one wanted broach the subject--Ari least of all--but eventually someone would have to say something, and so Ari suppressed a sigh, as obviously it would have to be him.
"Hello, everyone," he said, half to be polite, half to put off the inevitable for as long as possible. "You all know why..." no, that wouldn't do at all: he was trying to sound like an Elder, for the Moon Fox's sake, not like some random fox.
For about the million time in his life, Ari thought of how much better Rina was at this whole leadership thing than he was.
"Victoria, Loki," he started again, "Vitali, Victoria's father," come to think of that, Loki probably knew that already, but too late to take it back now, "wants to have a word with you about your relationship." He glanced over to Vitali, wondering if the other fox wanted him to go on, or if he'd rather speak for himself at this point.
Seeing that Vitali apparently wanted him to keep going, Ari did: "He has told me he's worried about the age difference, as well as Victoria possibly going to Kousetsu, if you two become official mates." There were other things Vitali had said, too--like that Vitali felt the outsider being an Elder threw the balance Loki's way. He had said something like 'else would have had to be under very strict scrutiny, but Loki can do whatever he wants with someone else's kid because he's an Elder and doesn't have anyone to tell him he can't', if Ari remembered correctly.
He wasn't about to say as much yet, though. Wait and see how Loki and Victoria took what he had said, first.
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Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2010 10:48 pm
Mitora hadn't realized how tense she had become until she saw Loki and completely relaxed. She smiled up at her mate as she stood beside her. With Loki here, handling this situation might not be so bad after all. Mitora just hopped that her father and Ari didn't already have closed minds and would actually hear them out and not just act on impulse.
Speaking of her father, Tori had resist the urge to roll her eyes as her father arrived and licked her cheek. "Hi, Dad." She managed, half heartedly returning his affection. It was plain to see he was tense and Tori knew it was going to be very difficult to persuade him to accept her choice of mate.
The vixen listened to Ari's words and tried to keep herself steady. If her father wanted to have a word with them she should have just told her and not made such a big deal out of it. Too late now. Once Ari had finished, it was her turn.
"Loki and I are official mates." Victoria said firmly as she rose and took a step closer to Loki. "And if you will allow it, Ari, I would like to visit him during the summer but still remain in the tribe I love in the winter, when the nights are longer." She really wanted to get the point across that she was still loyal to the Moon Fox and still loved her family and tribe. Giving that up was not on her agenda. As for the age thing... Tori wanted to say something like 'love knows no age.' but didn't want to sound childish and cheesy. So she hoped Ari and her father would forget about that for the moment until she could come up with something better.
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Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2010 8:08 pm
Yea, screw keeping his temper.
"You are not official mates," Vitali interrupted flatly. "As long as you are a member of this tribe, you need your Elder's permission before you can become official mates, and Ari has not granted his blessing. Therefor, you are not official mates,"
Vitali sighed mentally--perhaps he had spoiled his daughter too much during her kithood; he had given her most everything she wanted. Maybe now she thought she was entitled to this, too...
Well, he would prove that theory wrong quick enough.
"Do you know how far away Kousetsu is? How much of a toll it will take on your body? And what if, Moon Fox forbid, you get...pregnant?" Vitali said the word like it was a dirty cuss. "What about the children? Where will they stay? Will they never see either their mother or their father for half a year? Will they travel with you? Kits are small and fragile, they would not survive the journey," Vitali paused, then added, "Not that you will be having kits, young vixen. At least not with him,"
For his part, Vitali was mostly ignoring the other Elder, at least for now. Right now, this was between him and his daughter, who was doing something reckless and foolish that she might end up regretting for the rest of her life.
"And if, say, Ari does forbid you two to be mates? What will you do then? Will you disobey your Elder and be outcast from the Lunarie Tribe, your home, your mother and siblings and...me?" He knew that he was probably not his daughter's favorite fox at the moment, but he couldn't help but hope that the thought of being away from him would still weigh in on her decision...
...Not that it was her decision to make.
Having run out of questions (for the briefest of moments--he had also run out of breath), he first shot what could only be described as a dirty look to Loki, then shook his head and looked up at his Elder.
"...Er. My apologies, Ari. You should probably get a chance to say something," Tali added sheepishly, ears flicking back a bit. "Sorry."
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Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2010 8:34 pm
Ari started to move to cut Vitali off, as he started ranting, then thought better of it. Better to let him get everything off his chest at once. Let Victoria see how much this meant to her father. And Vitali had made some valid points, too.
Ari nodded at Vitali, accepting his apology, then turned to look at the two potential mates. "He has a point. If you become mates, how will you handle the kits? About your family in Lunarie, Victoria?" And Ari turned to address the other Elder directly for the firs time all night: "And what will you do without a mate for half a year, Elder Loki?" They were equals, after all, and so Ari wouldn't talk down to his fellow Elder, would be respectful, and use his proper title.
Would they be able to provide valid answers? Or would this turn out to be like the time Yudoku had wanted to mate outside the tribe, but had been denied, because neither she nor her mate had proved capable of handling the strain and responsibility that would take?
And if it turned out that way, what would he do? He imagined Victoria begging him to banish her from the tribe so she could join Kousetsu...He shoved that image from his mind, and tried to ignore it. He had had enough of being separated from his family, and from his mate. He wasn't about to wish that on someone else.
Ari found himself wondering if Loki even knew what he was getting himself into. Before...before everything, Ari had seen Kazuki maybe once or twice a month at most. Much more often than 'only half a year' Victoria was talking about. Did they even realize how lonely it was, how much it hurt, to know that your mate was out there somewhere, but not where it mattered, not by you?
Ari sincerely doubted it.
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Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2010 9:11 pm
Before Tori could inevitably launch into her father for his...well, rant was about the only nice word Loki could think of, Ari thankfully let him into the conversation. At least by talking he could give Tori a silent moment to calm down; he'd rather not have her lose it at her own father.
"No, we're not official mates," he said calmly. Despite the dirty looks he was getting from Vitali and the questions from Ari, Loki didn't seem shaken at all. In the back of his mind, he found that amusing; perhaps having such an array of craziness in his life at Kousetsu had done him some good after all. "At least not in the way you're talking about." He wasn't particularly keen on sounding like a naive kit and saying something about officially being in love, however, so he moved on from that point.
"About children, I can answer both of you." Loki looked away from the smaller male to his fellow Elder. "I have raised children of my own before, with the Elder of the Bateau Tribe. Six, in fact. While they were...an accident--" Loki knew Ari would have to relate whether he liked or not, all of the oldest Elders knew about his illegitmate children "--they gave me practice in raising kits in a safe environment until they were old enough to make their own choices. My own tribe is well-established, and my second-in-command in Sahari's absence is a scout. I could be safely away from my homeland for the duration since I would be able to communicate with her."
Now, to handle Vitali again. He looked down at him, and for once is his life found hismelf grateful for his advantage of height. He could handle being disrespected, but like hell was he going to be okay with Vitali launching into his own daughter like this. Even Loki had handled Kolga's choice of a mate with better restraint, and he was nothing if not overprotective of his children.
"Who Victoria chooses to have kits with is exactly that; her choice. Neither you, nor I, nor anyone else gets to decide that for her. She's capable of maling her own choices, as I'm sure you're well aware, being her father." In any other moment, Loki would have felt uncomfortable being so...cool...but the time called for it.
He was done with Vitali for now. Let him chomp at the bit and have another tantrum, Loki would shoot that one down too if he had to, if only to protect his mate. But right now was not Vitali's turn to speak. Again, he looked back to Ari.
"I know exactly what it is like to be without a mate for half a year, Elder Ari." The title felt weird on his tongue, but it was necessary. "My first mate would often wander off of her own volition away from my homelands for months with little to no warning. It was hard, yes, but I was able to get through it then. I would have stayed loyal to Chaussure despite the amount of months she stayed away had she not decided to leave our relationship herself. While that was some time ago, I'm well-adjusted to the idea of waiting."
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Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2010 10:03 pm
Did her father seriously think that way? Tori struggled to choke back the growl that was forming in her throat. So that's how it was. Artemis could have kits with someone outside of the tribe and not have any consequences, save maybe a "You shouldn't do that" lecture once, but if she tried to actually mate outside the tribe, her father would lose his cool on her? Did her father really wish her unhappiness?
Tori's gaze shot to her mate when he said they were not official mates. A hint of panic and confusion rose in her chest but it vanished as quickly as it had come with Loki's next statement. She was thankful that Loki was better with words than she was.
Talk of children would not go over well with her father but by this time, Tori was starting to care less and less of what he thought and was focusing on how to convince Ari for his blessing. 'Tori smiled as she thought of Loki's children, well, the ones she knew of anyway. It was felt good to have Loki here, helping defend her against her father and Ari... Not so much Ari, he was just doing his job. She figured she would let the men fight this out and would only speak once she was spoken to, so that she could avoid losing her cool like her daddy.
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Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 6:05 pm
Vitali opened his mouth to retort to this pompus a** of a male that his daughter was asking to be with for the rest of her life when a horrible, awful, terrible thought occurred to the black fox.
The pompus a** was right.
Biting back a growl, Tali let the silence drag on for a while, then he stepped forward, not caring that he was much shorter than the other opposing male or that his daughter might have his head.
"I swear to the Moon Fox, if you hurt my daughter--if one piece of fur is out of place, if myself or her mother have any reason to think you're not making her happy..." Tali trailed off, then rolled his eyes and finished, figuring that he might just have to make it perfectly clear to both of them. "You will regret it. She will not be like your previous two, unsuccessful, fleeting relationships. She is your mate."
And that made 'Tali a little bit sad, because all of a sudden, all of his children were growing up so fast...but at least she had bothered to ask, unlike her sister...
Sighing, Tali shook his head and turned away from the now-happy couple and glanced up at Ari. "I'll go tell her mother the news," Bowing his head lightly in respect, Tali slipped past them--part of him wondered if he had angered his daughter so much that she wouldn't come say goodbye before she went gallivanting off with her new mate.
Honestly? He wouldn't really blame her.
With a heavy heart and a heavy mind, the father of the young vixen walked away, headed back to the only home he'd ever really known: Mitora.
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Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 6:58 pm
It was hardly Ari's idea of an ideal relationship--there was the difference in age, the different tribes, which meant a huge difference in space between them, that they would spend less time together than other mates, there was the fact that Loki was an elder and would have to find some way to balance his duties with his relationship--but the greatest obstacle, Vitali, had just been overcome, and so Ari's reasons to deny this couple had suddenly decreased. While it wasn't his idea of an ideal relationship, there were still others who had managed cross-tribe matings, there was his son-in-law who had managed for some time to not only lead a tribe, but be a loving mate to Twilight.
"Very well then," Ari said, looking from one to the other, "you heard what Vitali said. If that should come to pass," but his tone of voice made it quite clear he found that very unlikely, "I may help him with that." After the unmating of Anjafey and Rendo however far back, he had little patience for those who abandoned their mates.
"My blessing on you both, Elder Loki and Victoria."
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