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 Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 8:32 pm
To be honest, Horae did everything she could to not depend on her parents. Not because of their low class, but because of the fact that she didn't want to worry them. All her attempts to give them a peaceful life was shattered when Laelia decided to be stupid. Now she was knocked up, and no one had any ideas as to who the father was.
Well, no, that wasn't true. There was a lot of speculation that it was that idiot Yareha, who had caused a lot of grief in the family, and Horae was in the mood to never forgive him. It made dealing with his family hard for her, but she always tried to remind herself that it was his fault's, and not his family's.
That didn't mean she was ready to leave Laelia alone, oohhhh no. The dark coloured lioness was hell bent on finding her sister, and she decided that checking around where her parents were would be a good start.
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 8:46 pm
Her worries didn't end there, though. She was expecting that soon, someone would notice she had never said Yareha was the father, even though she never argued when others assumed. His family was so big, she couldn't imagine even Grandpa would accept silence as an answer if it became a question of her protecting someone by refusing to identify a father that clearly was within the pride, within a well known family.
And she had left Yareha with him already thinking the cubs were his. What if he became more demanding, wanting to be more involved? What about when they arrived and grew and it was farther out of her control who they met? What would happen if he saw them?
Unable to be productive that day, Laelia had resigned herself to sulking in the sunshine near her parents' den. She wasn't particularly interested in any comings or goings around her, it was a fairly busy area for slaves.
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 9:00 pm
Ohoho...thank goodness Horae was correct. She spoted Laelia lying around, doing nothing. At least it didn't look like she was carefree - that might have really pissed Horae off. She slowerd her pace when she was getting closer to her sister....almost an inverted twin, if you sat them next to their parents. She tried to calm herself down, so she wouldn't appear too angry.
"Laelia," she said, doing her best to keep her tone happy. She couldn't help but let her pale brown eyes glance at Laelia's belly. It was pretty big, as far as she'd guess, and certainly was more full than Laelia wished.
"I was hoping to talk with you."
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 9:06 pm
Wrapped up in worrying about what was going to happen, Laelia nearly jumped out of her fur when Horae approached. She could hear the displeasure in Horae's voice and though her ears flattened and she frowned, she told herself it was all in her head. Just in her head, like everything else.
"Horae," she greeted her sister, not really trying to hide her fatigue or worry- it was all she could do and it was generally wasted effort amongst family, "Have a seat."
After a moment's hesitation as she decided if it was necessary to give up the comfort of laying down, Laelia did push herself up into a seat position so she could talk more comfortably with her sister.
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 9:19 pm
Horae would have rathered preferred to lie down, if only because it might make her less angry...not that she'd lash out at her sister, but man, it would have been tempting if she wasn't pregnant.
With the way that Laelia greeted her, it was going to be rather hard to confront her about this baby-daddy issue.
"You don't look so good," Horae said, starting out. As pissed as she was, this was her sister, and she shouldn't be too hard on her. The last thing Horae needed was to induce labor on her.
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 9:25 pm
Laelia immediately looked hurt by what Horae said and she didn't know exactly how to respond. Almost all of her energy was invested in being pregnant and worrying about being pregnant, she couldn't have responded angrily even if it was one of those days she might have.
"I don't feel so good," she said hesitantly, not wanting to go the sarcastic route where maybe it wasn't so crazy to worry about what was happening now.
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 9:32 pm
"Well, it shows." Horae knew she was pushing her sister's buttons, but it was hard not to. She had always heard that being pregnant made the hormones go crazy. Perhaps anything she said may have upset Laelia, since she was keeping important things to herself.
"Sorry. I know you're trying to keep yourself healthy," Horae said as she sighed and shook her head. "I wanted to see if I could press you. You never said who the father was, Laelia."
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 9:41 pm
Horae wasn't setting herself up for a pleasant conversation and Laelia was very well aware of that, and she was trying review just how tactful her sister had ever been.. but there wasn't anything like this that had happened before- and then she got to her point and Laelia froze.
She had been waiting for someone to notice.
"Well, I--"
Her words caught in her throat as her mind raced. She hadn't done anything but let people think what they thought, actually spitting out a flat-out lie would have been easier with someone who wasn't her sister.
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 9:45 pm
Horae's stomach turned. Was this really how it was going to happen? Was this other option in her mind the real truth? She turned to Laelia, a serious look in her eyes. She was not going to turn her head, no matter how awkward this was for her to say.
"Please tell me you at least know who it is." If Laelia had been that....open....then Horae really didn't know her sister. That almost scared her more than anything.
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 9:51 pm
Laelia was suddenly very aware of her own heartbeat and her breathing but there wasn't any way to calm down without making her panic even more obvious than it already was. The next question hurt more than Horae's opening remark but she didn't particularly blame her for this one. Laelia had been in an unofficial relationship with Yareha for so long, and that hadn't turned out so well.. she hardly seemed a particularly careful romantic.
Still.
"Yes, of course," she said, though quietly.
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 9:57 pm
Horae sighed, probably more than was necessary, but she had honestly been scared there for a moment. That would have been horrible, to not know. Laelia would have had to wait until the cubs came, and even then...there was enough family here, it would have been hard to tell who was who's.
"So you know. Why won't you tell anyone?" She hoped none of the royals would demand to know. Then Laelia would be in deep if she still kept her mouth shut.
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 10:03 pm
Fair question, but not one she wanted to answer-- and anything she said except that everybody was right and it was Yareha, well, that would completely remove him from possibility because then someone would know she was lying.
"I- I can't," she said, "I just can't, Horae."
On the surface, it seemed to Laelia a fair evasion tactic. Maybe she just couldn't handle Yareha knowing for sure. But she doubted Horae would let it go at that.
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 10:09 pm
Horae's face tensed up. That was not the answer she wanted. She felt betrayed, lied to, and just unwanted. Selfish emotions, but this was something that she had wanted to be ready to accept, to be excited for the young that would be her nieces and nephews. Now she was just angry, and did her best to not let hot tears run down her face.
She stomped a front foot down, pissed. "Fine. But you'd better be ready to answer that question once I see their faces, Laelia. Your family can't protect you if those above us demand to know."
Without waiting to see what Laelia would say in return, Horae stood up and walked away, ready to take her anger out on a tree, somewhere alone.
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 10:14 pm
Laelia cowered a little bit as Horae stomped, threatened and ultimately walked off. Never before has been been so tempted to just run away and avoid the whole issue but she'd never make it as a rogue herself, adding cubs to the mix would just end badly. And unless that was her plan, she couldn't just let it end like this.
"Horae-"
The farther away Horae got, the more Laelia panicked and the less she thought before acting. She stood up and followed after her sister.
"Horae!"
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 10:17 pm
"What?"
All the venom of Horae's emotions escaped with that one word. She turned again, doing her best to try and control her face but it wasn't happening. She was losing, and it was hard to care at this moment. She was more intent on ripping something to shreds, and she didn't want that to be Laelia. Closer and closer it was going to be, however. Perhaps Laelia was terrified, but she clearly had no idea the pain that she was delivering to her own family. That fed into Horae's anger, and it made her nearly swear on this spot that she would grow old and die alone, as her anger for anything in regards to mating and offspring was utterly disgusting to her darkening heart.
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