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 Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2018 1:08 pm
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Echoes reverberated through the otherwise silent channels of the roots, one-by-one telling of the descent of a single life into the destitute place. They came almost as if by clockwork: an unending stream of click after click, echo after echo sounding through an untold number of passages, hurriedly announcing to all that listened to pay heed to her arrival. It had been a few days since a visitor had graced these channels, but that was no more.
Let it be heard!
Rejoice, for she has come!
The princess had come at last!
As she reached her destination, her arms that had walked in tune with her steps hang still. Her expression betrayed no emotion: neither contempt nor relief. A neutral mask took its place, perfectly calm and proud, as if carefully sculpted in such a way. But her eyes...
...her eyes...
...they swirled with emotion: confusion, anger, distress, relief, betrayal, and so many countless others, threatening to spill over beyond the mask. She gently parted her lips, but hesitated, her mouth closing once more to bite her lower lip as she closed her eyes. There were far to many things she wished to ask, needed to know, wanted to say... Where was she to start? Looking forward, she began.
"Faroth..."
Her voice hitched and she paused, breathing in slowly through her nose until her lungs were filled, they exhaling fully at a regulated pace. Her hands that had hung loosely by her side clenched into loose fists, trembling, as her eyes looked away, then to him once more. Again she began, her voice steady as her gaze unrelentingly focused on him.
"What is the meaning of this?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2018 6:24 pm
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It hadn't taken Faroth long to shift from moping to pacing the cell restlessly. He realized he was going to have to find a way to burn excess energy down here or he may just lose his mind. Funny, how he'd used the excuse of exercising his injured leg to go for the run that had ultimately landed him in this cramped, confined place.
Normally, he got his exercise simply from moving about from place to place on his normal habits, but with that denied to him, Faroth was having to come up with some other ways to exercise. The hard work and eventual exhaustion helped keep him from focusing too long on his current predicament.
Running in place, push-ups, all good ways to burn energy. He could still feel a bit of weakness in one thigh from his injury, though, and had devised a new exercise to focus on building his strength in that leg again. After finishing a set of push-ups, he backed up towards one wall, carefully placing his hoof up on the wall. Once braced securely, he lifted the other hoof from the floor, holding himself aloft parallel to the floor only using his forearms and the hoof on the wall. Hold that as long as he could, put the other hoof down to rest, then back up again.
He was so focused on this exercise, the concentration needed to stay balanced and the slow growing burn from his muscles, that he hadn't heard anyone approach. When he heard his name, he jerked, his hoof sliding a bit down the earthen wall. He caught himself reflexively with the other hoof on the floor and looked up, startled. For a moment, he couldn't believe his eyes.
"...Tia..."
He drew his knees beneath him, sitting up in time to lay his ears back flat in response to her focused stare and blunt inquiry. The meaning of...his exercise? No, he knew better. This. All of this. The mess he'd caused.
He'd been scared at first to face her, or the rest of family, with what he'd done and the way it had played out above. Ranuin's visit had helped somewhat, but there was still so much he had to answer for. Though he wasn't looking forward to facing it, he'd started to grow worried as time passed and Celestia had yet to visit him. Surely she was furious. He wouldn't have blamed her. Faroth was pretty angry at himself for the mess he'd caused.
Swallowing hard, he looked up at her from his kneeling position, letting out a deep breath with a sigh.
"I...I can explain."
Could he really though?
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Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2018 7:00 pm
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It brought a strange sense of satisfaction - one she almost felt guilty about receiving - to see her special somepony stumble as he noticed her get there. The way he looked up at her and continued to fumble over his words resembled how the tots acted when they'd been caught doing something wrong.
He knew he was in trouble.
Good.
(Though, at this point it really should have been obvious, shouldn't it?)
Now quite literally looking down at him (though she'd have looked up if he'd been standing instead), a single eyebrow twitched, breaking the facade ever so slightly. "Oh....?" She almost hummed as she shifted her weight to one hoof, her hand reaching to brush the bangs from her eyes before her arms crossed across her chest. Not once did she take her eyes off of him.
"Then explain."
Even she was shocked at how bitterly the words seemed to come out, almost as if they were spat despite their perfectly enunciated tone. Perhaps it was due to how carefully she tried to say them, holding back her emotions from coming through too strongly, that instead all that was left was a foreign coldness. She'd intended to follow the sentence with some quip or other, but left it at that. Anything further would have been too much. Tia wasn't here to intimidate or berate Faroth, just to figure out what had gone wrong and why.
If she'd wanted that, she'd have come immediately after JustMo and Ranuin had appeared at the alcove door with a crying tot rather than waiting for things to settle down.
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Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:07 pm
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He hesitated. Faroth wasn't sure how he'd expected this to go, but this wasn't it. Had he expected her to be angry? Yeah, probably. Yelling? Maybe. To come down here crying? Also possible. But this cold, distant behavior, feeling almost as if she were looking down on him in disdain... Or looking as if she were about to lecture him like one of their children?
It gave him pause for just a moment, just long enough to halt whatever he'd been about to say. Rather than blurt out the first words that came to mind, he held his tongue. Though his ears remained laid back in a defensive posture, he slowly took his time rising to his hooves, brushing the dirt from his fur. He shook off a slight tremor in his weaker leg, then walked over to lean on the bars created by Laisidhiel's roots. Resting his head on his raised arm, he spoke through the bars. "Well, I can explain. I didn't say it would be a good excuse or that you would like it, but I can explain." Though he remained defensive, his tone was resigned. He'd gotten himself in this mess. Time for the consequences. He just hated that the consequences likely weren't reserved just for himself. That was the worst part.
"'I'm sorry' doesn't even begin to cover it, I know, but I am. I screwed up majorly this time, and the worst part is I'm not the only one paying for it. I'm so, so sorry."
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Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2019 12:42 pm
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"Yes, you did. And yes, it effects far more than just you."
She sighed, her shoulders visibly slacking and her hand reaching forward to pinch at at the rim of her nose between her eyes. She wasn't sure what she'd done if he tried do push the blame on someone else or pretend it was just an issue of him. She was glad he wasn't that kind of faun... Which only made the whole situation even more strange. One breath in, one breath out.
"So long as you understand that..." She paused as she looked back over to him. Now that he was standing, they were close to eye level. Man, she really didn't like seeing him in this shape, it hurt; she had half a mind to go complain to the guards about the treatment of those in here when they finished up their conversation. "Okay then." she began, her tone returning to her normal, more gentle self. He got the point, no need to keep playing with such a tiresome façade. "Please explain. Tell me, what happened?" As much as she wanted to immediately respond with a 'worry not, I forgive you,' it would just be lip-service if she did so now. She needed to hear what had happened from his perspective first. She presumed - or perhaps hoped would be a better word - that this was all some big misunderstanding.
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