(Early in the Sky Ceremony, just took me this long to finish it XD)
"Lus..." One green eye, the color of grasses somewhere between spring and summer, slowly opened to look up into the face of his younger brother, Gavriel. Lusaefer let the eye slip closed again and yawned, rolling his shoulders and stretching his back slightly.
"Mmm? What?" He rolled over then, so that he could get a better look at Gav. Of his brothers, Gav was probably his favorite, and honestly? He had no compunctions against admitting it. He was the tag-along, the star-struck little brother. And little wasn't even referring to the fact that while they were from the same litter, Lusaefer had been born before Gavriel. It was a literal little, of all their siblings, Gav was the smallest, frankly a runt. Pity or over-protectiveness, Lus wasn't one to dwell long enough to figure why he looked out for Gav so much. Perhaps it was merely that they amused one another.
Gav rose an eyebrow as he considered the pose Lus had rolled into. Only for a moment, though, and then his question, the whole reason he had poked his brother, resurfaced.
"The fights for the Sky Ceremony started. Wanna come with me to watch some?" He should have expected that, the way Lus' muzzle wrinkled as soon as the question had fallen between them. Gav couldn't figure it out any more than the rest of them could, why Lus was so uncomfortable with being around the other clans.
Either way, Gav should have known better than to ask. But there wasn't any harm in it, was there?
"O'ros already lost, not much point in watching now," Lus replied, rolling over to sit up and shake his head. Gav gave his brother a lopsided smile and shrugged.
"To watch and have fun, that's the point. It's a festival."
"That doesn't sound very amusing to me." Of course it wouldn't. The only fighting Lus seemed to enjoy was fighting with Mikhail. Gav had to bite his tongue to keep from letting that thought slip. Gav sighed and rubbed one paw against his forehead. How on earth was he going to get Lus to loosen up and at least try to enjoy the events?
"Maybe for once we'll meet a girl that isn't related to us?" Gav flinched when Lus let out a soft tch sound. That almost imperceptible crease formed in the other male's muzzle, anyone else might have missed it. Gav should have known better than to say it, but the words had just tumbled out. His brother wasn't all that comfortable around other clans as a whole, but most of all, females from other clans. Was it really so simple that Lus just didn't want to leave his family so much, that he'd rather avoid any chances of fancying someone who might take him away?
Well. If that was the case, there was an easy solution to that. Lus just needed to be prodded into it. Or find a lady in their own clan someday. Or learn to not care about it.
Gods, his brothers were frustrating! As much trouble as Gav tended to get into, all the mischief he caused, it hurt to see his family unhappy. Samm and Dene didn't count, he'd never considered them family. To this day, Gav blamed their father's guilt and Cas' simmering animosity towards their father on their wayward brothers. If they hadn't been stupid and wandered too far from home, things could have been happier, much happier. At least, in Gav's mind.
Lus wasn't happy, he knew that. There was always something lingering, if only he could figure out what it was and help him.
Lus's frosty-green gaze shifted over to his brother and couldn't stop the pang of guilt in his chest. Gavriel was focused on some point on the ground to his right, a look both tired and sullen on his normally jovial features. How many times had they had this argument? It seemed like so much of his life he spent arguing with one of his brothers over one thing or another. At least with Gavriel it was something trivial like going to play where they shouldn't, or trying to meet girls. He wasn't sure what it was with Gav, he seemed so drawn to females. Perhaps it was because they always seemed something of a novelty, considering in a family of thirteen there were only two daughters, their elder sister Gogv and their littermate Tia. Or maybe Gav just liked being bigger than someone and females tended to be a bit smaller. Not much, but at least a bit. It could be any number of reasons and Lus just couldn't comprehend them. He didn't dislike females, within reason, but he just didn't understand the incessant need to search them out.
But he did understand Gav's need for a friend. There was so much trauma and distance in their family, he couldn't blame his brother for wanting, needing someone by his side. Neither of them wanted to end up like Castiel, quiet and perplexed at best, bitter and distant at worst. And it just seemed that the someone Gav had latched onto had been him from the very beginning.
"You mean one our age. Most of our clan aren't related to us." Was that hope he saw in his brother's eyes when Gav's golden eyes snapped back to look at him. Misplaced if it was, he still didn't want to go watch the fights.
"Right, right. So, will you come?"
"No, I still don't want to." The grinding of Gav's teeth almost made Lus smile. Almost. Would his brother give up now? Past experience would say no. For all his brother was something of a coward when it came to direct confrontation, he was nothing if not tenacious in his own ways when he had a goal in mind. He could almost see Gav's mind working, trying to come up with another way to get Lus to come with him. Old tricks, that's all they were to Lus, him being the master and Gav the student after all. But it was always interesting to see what his little brother came up with.
"Fine, I'll go watch by myself," Gav replied with a sigh, noting the look of surprise on Lus' face. His own expression was resigned, tired of arguing with his older brother. But one eyebrow did quirk slightly. "What, did you expect me to continue fighting a losing battle? I may be more idealistic than I'd like to be, but I'm not stupid. I'll see you later."
With that, he turned away and counted the steps, hoping Lus might at least call out to him. But it didn't come. It almost felt like he was slowly starting to lose his best friend and he didn't know how to make it stop.
(WC: 1,134)
