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 Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:54 pm
Who: Liliana & Endless
When: After Nari tells Remus the news that they are expecting & the families are told (say the 19th of February, at night)
Where: Somewhere in the grounds outside the headquarters to start.
Why: to see what happens.
Liliana flew angrily into the falling snow. Thick white flake-clusters clung to her crimson fur. Angry tears crystallized upon her cheeks even as they trailed from her green eyes. She looked up at the stars, sparkling even through the snowfall. The new moon had been only two nights before... Normally she would be happy right now, because her father would not be showing any traces of his reluctance of coming full moon with it being so far away.
But now... now the young adult was not sure what to feel. Other than angry. She felt hurt, betrayed -certainly disappointed & maybe even... heartbroken. Not that she would admit it. Oh no. Remus & Nari's eldest daughter was far to proud for that.
She flew low over the white covered ground not really caring where she went. Of course her path angled towards the kitsusagi realm headquarters. Understandable, since aside from her own home it was the only place she did not mind spending time. Perhaps even enjoyed it.
I'm glad it's snowing! Glad, glad glad glad GLAD!!! But no matter her thoughts she was not glad... nor did she stop crying, only beat her black & gold wings all the more heavily as her white tails with their gold markings streamed behind her.
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Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 10:15 am
On the ground somewhere near the HQ there was a flashlight stuck in the side of a low hummock of snow. The illumination wasn't what it could have been, trying to shine through the fat, thickly falling flakes, but it was enough for its purpose. The snow-filtered light fell upon a dark coated Kitsu who's pelt sparkled and flashed as he moved around what appeared to be the beginnings of a snow sculpture.
Endless was packing the snow down a little tighter before he started the finishing touches on his little piece of defiant artwork; he was going to try and make a phoenix rising from the ashes. Incongruous, given the weather, but it was what he felt like right now. He was like the phoenix; rising from the ashes of a sorry past. Rising from an unwanted episode of remembering about an hour before.
His eyes glowed softly, providing what the flashlight did not, and vice versa. It wasn't the best time to be doing this, with the snow still falling so thickly, but he didn't want anyone to see it... and laugh... or just move on. He'd come out and made little sculptures a few times now, but either no one saw or no one cared, he hadn't heard any mention of them. Maybe it was just as well... So many people had told him that art was a fool's dream for the weak. It was his secret; his defiance. He was strong, he'd proved that, but he still did it, so he could prove at least to himself that it wasn't foolish.
Stop thinking about them. That was what he told himself as he sat down for a quick breather and looked up at the night sky, the only thing in the universe that he actually felt free to express himself to. He had this starry pelt, so in a way, they were partly the same thing... at least to his view. He blinked, though, and looked a little harder through the snow that seemed to be clearing up just slightly. He thought he saw something else white floating around up there...
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Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 10:52 am
She could hardly see through the tears crystallizing near her eyes but the light upon the snow where there should be no light distracted the flying kitsu enough that the faltered, drew too close to the ground, and tumbled as a wingtip wedged into the snow on the ground. With a yelp of shock & pain the red furred female rolled head over tails across the snow. At some point she remembered to pull her wings in -just in time too as the rolling female came to a stop on her back beside both light & sculpture. She did not yet see the dark furred male, who compared to the snow covered landscape seemed to fade into the starlit sky & falling snow. Green eyes blinked dizzily, attempting to focus. The light from the flashlight seemed to illuminate the sculpture & Liliana turned her head to aim crossing green eyes to better see it. When she spoke her words wavered with incredibility. "A phoenix?"
Thinking that her human would love it and that her father would speak of Dumbledore & Fawkes the young adult choked back a sob, curling onto her side towards the sculpture drawing wings & tails protectively towards her as if seeking some warmth or solace from the snow phoenix.
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Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 11:09 am
Endless half-crouched just beyond the beam of light and watched the female. After a few moments his apprehension started slowly to evaporate. It was obvious she was upset... and it almost sounded like she was crying through the muffling effects of the snow.
He padded softly closer, not entirely sure what he could do, but wanting to do something... He hardly ever let his feelings show, but that didn't mean they weren't there, and one thing he absolutely hated was to see someone else cry. There was too much sadness in the world... too much sadness in him... he didn't want anyone else to have to be sad.
None of this really showed on his face as he approached, no matter if it raced through his heart at the speed of thought. Her reaction to his phoenix startled an echo of feeling out of him. She almost seemed to reach out to it with a silent plea for help. He hated to interrupt her... possibly to scare her... but after the fall she took he wanted to make sure if she was all right. He genuinely hoped she hadn't injured those beautiful wings or anything... "Are you ok? Nothing... broken, I hope?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 11:27 am
Liliana froze. Even the shakes resulting from her silent sob stilled. Startled green eyes flew open to find the source of the voice, frozen tears rimming their lower side. She had clearly been out in the cold long enough for her fur to provide insulation so that her body heat did not melt them. Her heart beat furiously in her chest. She had thought no one else around... that she was safe from being seen like this. And to tumble like that... the male must think her some kind of a klutz. She sighed & looked away. Too late now. "No. I don't think I am okay. But..." Liliana uncurled slowly, backing carefully away from the phoenix almost as if afraid it might burn her -or give the warmth she was now afraid to receive. She tested first one wing & then the other. Ruffled, but sound. "Nothing broken."
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Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:13 pm
Endless smiled a tight little smile, not visible from the angle he was standing at. He recognized those actions and the feelings behind them. Don't let anyone know, especially someone you just met. He felt bad for ruining her moment of solitude before she was ready, but he'd needed to make sure... He knew from experience that being injured and stuck out in weather like this was far from a good thing.
He debated with himself for a moment before stepping over to phoenix rather than to her. She probably wasn't ready to have her personal bubble invaded yet... he'd done enough of that anyway. "Sorry if I startled you." His coat sparked and flashed as he moved around the phoenix, evening out a little here, packing a little on there. "Just... bad weather to get hurt in... wouldn't be good if you got stuck or something..."
He did his best not to look at her, concentrating on the phoenix so that she could do... whatever without having to worry about him watching. He was afraid if he started looking too much he'd stare. It wasn't just her wings that were beautiful. Finally he stepped back, still looking up at the sculpture. "Uh..." he started hesitantly, "do you... like it?" Try as he might he couldn't really keep that hint of hopeful pleading out of his voice. He wasn't expecting a positive answer... he hadn't been for a long time... but she was here and it wasn't like he could really hide the thing. And maybe it would help get her mind off of what was bothering her.
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Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 1:01 pm
Liliana was on the defensive, deciding whether or not she should just leave. When he did not press her she looked to see why and her head tilted at what he was doing. She could not miss the sparkle of the stars on his coat as he moved now that she had seen him. It mollified her a little for having missed his presence before. "It's okay." Liliana found herself saying, a bewildered expression on her face. "I just hadn't seen you..."
Her voice trailed off as she continued to watch, only barely catching his words about the weather being bad to get hurt in. Oh, she knew that. Her father had needed to care for the Audios Keme & their own Relm when they became sick from being out in the cold too long when she was still a kit... and it was much colder now than it was even then. But thinking about her father made her heart ache so she focused on the sculpture beneath the male's paws. She did not notice the near plea in his voice as the question formed -she had one of her own. "How do you do that?" She murmured in awe, stepping closer with green eyes focused on the snow phoenix. "It's beautiful..."
Her words were barely a whisper, captivated by the sight. Her human joked that the phoenix was her totem mythical creature, but the kyunru & some of the older members of their family would smile and make faces that they knew Trelweny was likely closer in her joke than she might like to acknowledge. So the creature was considered something of a household guardian by most of them. Liliana herself had never seen a real one, but she hoped to. Her white and gold tails flicked almost lazily behind her, their tips churning up the newest layer of fallen snow as she studied the phoenix made of snow.
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Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 1:27 pm
If not for Endless' fur he might have turned nearly as crimson as Lili herself was at the compliment. Fortunately he had his fur and Lili's attention was directed at the phoenix anyway. "I... well... I just mess with it 'til it looks right." He patted some more snow onto one wing and retraced the line of a feather. "When the snow's big chicken feather flakes like this it usually means it's the type to stick together really well so if I do something like this I usually wait for the thick snow..." She had a pretty voice too. He hoped he could keep her talking... it seemed to be helping a little bit, although he couldn't be sure.
"The picture helped too." He waved a paw off toward the hummock where the flashlight was, softly glowing eyes blinking slightly when he turned to look. "Oh... guess it got covered up..." He padded over and started carefully excavating a little sketch pad tucked inside a plastic zip-bag. It depicted a phoenix similar to the one in the sculpture, only it was standing up. "Had to change it... so it wouldn't fall." Oddly enough the little red-gold phoenix on the paper seemed to be looking at Lili.
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Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 2:00 pm
"I knew that there were different types of snow." She had read about them anyway. Although most of her young life hade been with snowy weather the often learning bound female rarely stopped to appreciate the world around her. She had always been happy to have her world revolve around her father. "But not that anyone could create something like this from it."
She looked then at the picture he had unearthed, feeling a shiver as the phoenix seemed to stare into her. Liliana had to look away. "It's quite a likeness." Liliana gave the starry-pelt male a shaky smile. "I'm more accustomed to the flat images." With all the Relms painting in her growing family that was somewhat of an understatement, even should one go out of her usual realm of the library & the flat pictures of the books there. "But I can see how it could not stand the same."
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Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 2:43 pm
Endless grinned slightly and shrugged. "I saw someone making an ice sculpture one time... figured I'd try it with snow, seemed easier to do with paws."
He picked up the baggy and set it closer to the flashlight, unknowingly ending the phoenix's questioning gaze at Lili. He gave it another look, turned around to look at the snow-phoenix. He roamed around the sculpture, fixing a little thing here, shaping a little thing there, and then stood back to look at it again.
It just wasn't... quite... right. The face seemed angry. It made sense, he'd been angry earlier. But he didn't feel angry now, and he didn't think the phoenix wanted to be angry. He padded over, stood on his hind feet, wobbling just a bit, and made the phoenix smile. Suddenly its eyes looked kinder and he got a friendlier feeling from it in general. He backed up again, just a little bit to the side of Lili, and looked it over again. "I think it's finished." He sounded almost... surprised.
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Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 6:13 pm
An undistinguishable sound came from the female. She almost liked that it had been angry... it fit her mood. Now that the phoenix was smiling, she felt oddly bereft and adrift as the anger within her started to wane. She still was hurt ... but she could no longer diffuse all of it to the fury of anger -and that terrified her.
Still she somehow chuckled wryly at the trace of surprise in his voice. "It looks great... did you perhaps think it wouldn't? Or that you could not get there?"
Although she asked the questions there was nothing behind them -no malice, no teasing, no joking. If anything there was a hint at her own sadness in the soft way she asked.
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Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 8:01 pm
Endless shrugged. "I came out earlier... to vent, I guess. I don't normally finish the ones I start when I'm venting." His voice gave away more about his earlier emotional turmoil than his face did. Thump, thump, thump. His tails hit the ground softly one at a time over and over, thump, thump, thump, a distraction from thoughts that were still too close. "So I guess I wasn't really expecting to finish. Actually... I don't think I would have if you hadn't shown up." He smiled wryly, not really expecting that to make sense to her. It didn't really make sense to him. "I guess it wanted to be here for you tonight. 'S not right for me want to keep it all to myself anyway..." And at precisely the moment he finished his sentence a big fat snowflake took a detour on his next inhaled breath and melted just inside his nose, causing him to sneeze.
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Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 8:26 pm
He came out to vent and created things... she came out to vent &... what? Nothing. Liliana felt an odd feeling inside that she was not accustomed to and decided that she did not like it.
But she did not understand why he would not finish normally, nor why her presence would alter that in any way. She was considering asking about that and what he meant by being there for her when he sneezed. Already in a frame of mind to be easily spooked Liliana jumped backwards skittishly at the sound, a startled yip torn from her.
Shaking as she mentally berated herself for overreacting to a simple sneeze Liliana looked at the starry male with forlorn apology. "I uh..." She blushed. "I don't understand." Lily said lamely with a choppy laugh. "If you can do that, why not finish? And why... why should you want anything for me?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 8:46 pm
Endless looked at Lili, though it was obvious from his expression that he wasn't really seeing her. "I wanted?..." He frowned slightly and turned to the phoenix as if expecting it to answer. "It probably sounds stupid but... it's the only friend I've had for most of my life. It found... me. It wanted to be here for you." He shook his head, almost violently. "Either that or I'm a schitzo."
He looked back at Lili, his face a difficult thing to read. "It seemed to make you feel better, anyway..." he murmured softly and turned away. "I've seen too much... sadness." His voice fairly dripped with it. Then he shook himself again, rolled his shoulders, and trotted over to retrieve his flashlight and book-in-a-baggy. "I'm Endless... by the way... I don't think I told you yet." He looked toward the HQ. "You wanna... go in... or something?" He didn't sound at all sure if he wanted to go in himself... but the cold was starting to get to him. He'd been out too long. But still...
Suddenly unsure of himself, he dropped his things back on the hummock and sat heavily, a look of utter confusion on his face. As long as he had something to do he was fine, but suddenly he felt... lost. And he was pretty sure he was shaking more because he felt like he was about to cry again himself than just because he was shivering from the tiny icicles that had formed on his coat. He swallowed the unwanted lump in his throat and laughed a short, nervous laugh. "Sorry... I don't seem to know what to do with myself tonight..."
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Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 9:23 pm
"It wanted?" Liliana shook her head in confusion. Stranger things were possible... and it had seemed the picture had been looking at her. She did not comment on the schitzophrenic possibility -if he was it seemed a kind one and not likely dangerous.
She found she also could not comment on feeling better. Her anger was momentarily swayed, but would it return in full force when she was once again alone? And what of this ache she felt inside? But feeling for herself in such a way quickly gave way to compassion as she felt the sadness in his voice. As self-centered as Liliana often was she did have a tender heart when touched. And she was touched. She took a step towards him as he went to collect his things, though uncertain what to do.
His introduction made her flush hotly with embarrassment for her lack of manners. "My Daddy named me Liliana." She said softly, with a hint of ... something. Perhaps sorrow. There was love & adoration as well. And maybe... hurt? "I'm pleased to meet you Endless."
And she was. In the back of her mind she wondered if this was the same Endless her Uncle Aear & Aunts Chroma & Ginny had mentioned. She could not recall now what they might have said. Not that she had time to think about it. Endless had a curious look about him.
"That's a silly thing to be sorry for." Perhaps realizing how callous her words might sound Liliana sighed & lay down on the snow, resting her head on her paws. She hardly seemed to notice the cold of either air or snow. "Because I don't know what to do with myself either."
She flicked her tails lightly & there was a soft sound of the tiny ice crystals that had formed there clinking together. "It would probably be smart to go inside I suppose. But I don't want to be smart!" Although spoken softly the last still rose sharply like the voice of a petulant child. Not that Liliana cared.
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