a death in the family - Printable Version +- 'Souls IPB Archive (November 2007–October 2012) (https://soulsrpg.com/ipb) +-- Forum: Dead IC (https://soulsrpg.com/ipb/forumdisplay.php?fid=110) +--- Forum: Dead Topics (https://soulsrpg.com/ipb/forumdisplay.php?fid=21) +--- Thread: a death in the family (/showthread.php?tid=3720) |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Arkham Lykoi - 10-11-2008 [html] http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r173 ... header.jpg); background-attach:top center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-color:#162022;">
Laaaa, I am slow. D: He supposed he would have found it eventually. It stood out somehow, amongst all the other jagged and dirty rocks on the unfriendly shore. Vaguely, he wondered if Hell's Coast had looked the way this place did and he'd just never noticed. Perhaps it had only been beautiful to him then because it had been all he had ever known, the only place he'd ever lived. His only home, and he'd felt like the only one of his litter to have ever really called Inferni his home. Eris had disappeared so long ago. Andre had always been restless and full of hate. Rachias had preferred their father's pack. He'd been the only one that'd stayed. But now even he couldn't seem to bring himself back to Inferni's borders. There were just so many reasons he couldn't belong there anymore. It shouldn't have hit him just now; it had been true for many months already, but Arkham felt lost all of a sudden. He was homeless. The grey coyote sat down opposite his brother's grave and shed his hood, sure that there was no one around to see him. He supposed it didn't matter much anymore anyway. He would speak to Gabriel soon, and then... and then he didn't know. Maybe he really would just leave. Rachias had their father to take care of, and he didn't see the point in showing up on their doorstep if she'd mourned him already. Somehow, he was sure he'd only hurt her more if he were alive. If he somehow got himself killed for real, how would she cope then? Arkham shook his head and sighed. Andre's grave was beautiful. He was sure their sister had put it there. No one else would have. More than he deserved, undoubtedly. It was still strange for him to think that Andre was dead, that they would never argue or fight again. It wasn't nostalgia, exactly, but there was still an emptiness there. He felt a lot of emptiness. The sky overhead was overcast and gloomy. It always looked like it was about to start raining again. [/html] - Rachias Tears de Ame - 10-11-2008 [html]
- Arkham Lykoi - 10-12-2008 [html] http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r173 ... header.jpg); background-attach:top center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-color:#162022;">
Arkham couldn't help but feel as if he'd done nothing right, even though he didn't feel as if he'd done anything wrong. It was some strange in-between place that shouldn't have existed at all, but that seemed to be everything he did. Irrelevant in the scheme of things. There was no reason for him to be at that grave, really. He had no respects to pay. He had never liked Andre. He had nothing to reminisce. There was nothing. This was nothing. The clan just a short distance away with the borders marked by skulls... they were nothing. And he was nothing. After all, wasn't he dead? Maybe he should have just stayed dead and left all of this behind. The only person that'd missed him had moved on, right? But there was her voice again. He didn't turn around at first. The coyote considered just putting his hood back on and leaving, denying everything if she asked. It was better for her to think that he was already gone. Arkham had never wanted to hurt anyone, but he already had, so why make anything worse? Her footsteps stopped with her voice, caught in surprise, shock, disbelief, whatever else. Anger, perhaps. Grey head and giant ears turned slowly so that red eyes could meet blue. The ears flattened and he sighed. Hello,he said, quiet. He was sorry, but for some reason, he couldn't say that. He was sure she already knew, anyway. [/html] - Rachias Tears de Ame - 10-12-2008 [html]
- Arkham Lykoi - 10-15-2008 [html] http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r173 ... header.jpg); background-attach:top center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-color:#162022;">
Strangely, perhaps, he felt a little empty. Or at least, it was that strange numbing feeling that sort of felt like nothing at all. Or alternatively, everything at once. In some sense, it was just as big a shock for him to see his sister again, even though he had always believed or known that she was alive. Some days, it had felt like he would never go back. Some days, it felt like he could never go back. Some days, he forgot that he was alone at all. Some days, he didn't know anything. Today, he didn't know anything. Was he happy? Was he relieved? Was he upset? Was he angry? Was he guilty? I'm sorry you had to look,he said, just as quietly as before. She came to him, and he thought again that she was beautiful, and again about how much they've grown, and how much things have changed. She reached out to him and he sighed, stretching his own arm out to pull her in and to embrace her. It was funny in a way, how he could have forgotten just how strong personal scents were. Spending so much time covered in mint, he'd kind of lost a bit of sensitivity, and it had been a long time since anyone had been so close. It was in that scent that the relief came, that the comfort came, that the nostalgia came, that the regret came. It had been a long time. Some days, he didn't realize. Today, he did. Today, he knew that it had been months, years, lifetimes since they'd seen each other. The days before the fire had been centuries ago. He held her, and he couldn't piece together anything else to say. [/html] - Rachias Tears de Ame - 10-15-2008 [html]
- Arkham Lykoi - 10-27-2008 [html] http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r173 ... header.jpg); background-attach:top center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-color:#162022;">
o hi. kiri sucks. sharksArkham had always been one to consider the world from a distance. On the beach, he would sit on his own rocky cliff and survey the world with an apathetic and impartial gaze. Most things only interested him in passing, and he was usually quick enough to move on to the next shiny thing. As a child, he had been content, perhaps too content. The lands beyond the skull-lined borders had not meant much to him, and he had enjoyed life within Inferni's walls. There, he had had family and books and a beautiful sunrise to look forward to at the beginning of every day -- why should he seek out anything else? Family had always been among the things he really did care about though, if partially because it was a core part of what had made up his very small world. There seemed to be so very little of it left now. He wanted to hold on tight, but part of him was too scared to. The more he tried to keep everything the same, the more things changed. sharksIt seemed logical to just abandon everything before anything else changed and before anyone else was hurt. People were too fragile; he knew he was too. sharks Talitha told me,he said quietly, relaxing his hold a little. She didn't tell me what he did though. I'm not sure I want to know.In was true though, that Arkham was very perceptive. Something had changed about his niece when he'd seen her that day amongst the sunflowers. If Samael was at least capable of the idea, then certainly Andrezej would not have shied from it. Arkham had always given his family, his brothers, the benefit of the doubt. Arkham was not sure whether it was possible to be more ashamed of his family -- everything anyone had ever said about them had been true, it seemed. Lykoi was not a pretty name. [/html] - Rachias Tears de Ame - 10-27-2008 [html]
- Arkham Lykoi - 10-27-2008 [html] http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r173 ... header.jpg); background-attach:top center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-color:#162022;">
sharks He deserved it,Arkham said coldly and perhaps more harshly than he would have wanted. But it was true; it had always been true. Even when he was young, he could see his brother's death sentence float over his head like a decrepit halo. One day, he would do something unforgivable and he would pay for it with his life. He would be torn apart by those he was supposed to love and those who were supposed to love him, but there would be nothing but disgust and hatred in their veins -- the same disgust and hatred that they all shared. The same vengeance, the same madness. The same goddamn madness. The coyote let his sister change the subject. He didn't want to think or talk about it either (he didn't want to tell her that he thought they would all end up the same one day, unwanted skeletons in the sand, left to erode alone). sharks No,he said of their father. I found the cottage he'd been staying at at one point, but I didn't see him.Changed? He didn't know what she meant by that. Good change? Bad change? Sideways change that wasn't really positive or negative? Their father had always been a sick man -- was whatever he had now of a more traditional disease? Of the body rather than the mind? Arkham had never really known his father but for that one chance meeting and all the conversations he'd had with his caretakers. Did that really count as knowing someone? He didn't think so. How is he?Pause. How are you?It was then he noticed that she didn't smell like Inferni. [/html] - Rachias Tears de Ame - 10-28-2008 [html]
- Arkham Lykoi - 11-04-2008 [html] http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r173 ... header.jpg); background-attach:top center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-color:#162022;">
sharksThat he would never understand his brother (or perhaps that should be plural) frustrated him more than anything else, but he occasionally accepted that not understanding was preferable to understanding. If he could see whatever twisted logic that had led to Andre doing what he had done, then what did that make of him? Who could understand a monster better than another monster? Suddenly, Arkham felt all too detached from the grave he was sitting in front of. It didn't feel like the condemned and deceased had ever been his brother, and it didn't feel as if they had grown up, for the most part, side-by-side. The day Andre had been banished had felt faraway already, but now it felt even more distant. It was a thousand years ago, or perhaps it had never happened at all. They weren't brothers. How could they be? sharksHe tried to understand what Rachias was telling him about their father, but he found that difficult to grasp as well. He didn't change anymore, she was telling him, and he was in the personality that was perpetually depressed rather than perpetually dangerous. The more preferable of the two, though Arkham had always been bothered by how helpless and weak the man had seemed that day. Is he any happier? Now that he doesn't change anymore?He had wanted to help him but had neither been able to conquer his fear nor figure out how. Perhaps he could overcome the fear now, but the perceived inadequacy remained. Besides, it had never seemed as if the man wanted help or company or anything at all. sharks I'm fine,he said, perhaps a little too automatically. It wasn't that serious of an injury.The coyote pulled his cloak back slightly to reveal his stomach, which had long since scabbed over. There was a reddish pink line where the gash had been, but he had a feeling that it wouldn't even scar in the end. You aren't with Inferni anymore,he noted finally, Is it just because you're taking care of dad? [/html] - Rachias Tears de Ame - 11-05-2008 [html]
- Arkham Lykoi - 11-07-2008 [html] http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r173 ... header.jpg); background-attach:top center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-color:#162022;">
sharksArkham had grown up far removed from his father, and if it hadn't been for Rachias, he would have likely never bothered to seek him out at all. The distance had stemmed from his prevailing childhood apathy more than anything else though; it hadn't really been because of all the stories he'd heard, though they certainly didn't help the cause. But the fact of the time was that Laruku had lived far away and it would have taken more effort than the child ever felt like expending to get to him. There had been family enough on the beach -- no need to go out of his way to find someone so specific when there was a possibility the man might turn on him, right? sharksNow, of course, the grey coyote had no such excuse. He had no home, so no distance was really "too far," and he no longer really felt like he had a family, so maybe the scarred up man really would count for something now. Arkham shrugged a little, but not really like he was blowing off his sister's suggestion. I suppose I will if you think that would help him. sharksAt her explanation as to why she was no longer with Inferni, Arkham couldn't help but narrow his eyes. He was glad Gabriel had not allowed Rachias to run back into the fire to find him when he had already fled in the opposite direction, and his orders to the clan upon arriving in their new home did not particularly surprise him, but he didn't understand why his half-brother would go out of his way to torment a sick man that probably hadn't personally bothered him in many long months. Arkham understood Gabriel's prejudice, but at the same time, he felt like Gabriel also knew that blind persecution wasn't helping or protecting anyone. Still, he didn't distrust the dog-like man for his racist laws or the death of his blood brother; it was just those slips of mindless violence that came now and again that he did not trust. He couldn't trust someone who'd drove an entire valley of people out of their homes. sharksThat Gabriel had been the one to start the fire sat on the tip of his tongue, but he decided there was no reason for Rachias to know, not if she already had so many other reasons she didn't like or trust him. Besides, Arkham still intended to speak to him about it -- he wanted to know what reason he had had, if any, for his actions, and that would be when he could finally decide whether or not he would leave Inferni for good. sharks You've never really felt at home there anyway, have you?he asked with a wry grin, though it soon faded. I don't know yet if I'll go back. I need to talk to Gabriel about some things first. [/html] - Rachias Tears de Ame - 12-09-2008 [html]
- Arkham Lykoi - 01-10-2009 [html] http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r173 ... header.jpg); background-attach:top center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-color:#162022;">
sharksIt was funny in a way, that he and his family should have grown so far apart in such a little time. Maybe they had never felt particularly tight-knit or close, but they had always been his family, and he had always loved them. It seemed like his coming-of-age challenge was drifting away. Was this what growing up was? Severing all the ties that had once made him who he was? Rachias was the only relative he had left that he could say he, without a doubt, loved. If Gabriel could not give him a satisfactory answer (and Arkham had severe doubts that he could), then he would have no qualms with leaving this place forever, taking his sister with him, and trying to find some kind of happiness elsewhere. It was already so hard to think of this place as home. Maybe that wasn't what he should be trying for at all. sharks Okay,he answered with a small smile. [/html] |