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Ehm... >< I actually did not do this on purpose for SSWM. But this thread is significant for her plot and it is also much fun, so I just blame you  Sorry for the long read <3
Word Count: 815 - SoSuWriMo
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Jefferson continued to play with the children, and Vesle continued to blush and hide as he did so, though Dexter seemed quite satisfied with himself. The boy smiled and sat with his chest puffed out, and as soon as their uncle complimented their names, Vesle quickly mirrored him, though only to some extent. A quiet smile and a quiet pride was what she held, quite unlike her mother, but more similar to her father. Neither knew their dad, and Mew would have it no other way. She had done everything herself, and if that pathetic excuse for a wolf came lurking around Dahlian land again, she would chase him off it. But it seemed that not all males were either pathetic like Lubomir or cold like her baby brother. This one seemed quite likable now that he had understood that she was not a complete bitch after all.
The words he spoke could have been delivered differently, and then she might have scoffed at him and reacted with anger despite her children's presence. Perhaps she would have sent them off to play first, and then let her words wash over him, for she refused to be spoken to in such a way, patriarch or not. But the delivery was less than poisonous, and not sarcastic. He did not mean to lash out at her and she understood this; she understood that he was curious. The extent of his pride surprised him, though, for he had only mirrored her own behavior when they had met; this was what she saw. She had seen a coyote, and he had seen a racist, but he had been the one so bent on his opinion and values that he had chased her away. He had put himself on top of the good-person-ladder, and her on top of the bad-person-ladder, but in fact he had been just as bad as she. They had both labeled each other, and when he so ferociously believed in the good of his own mind (obviously, since he had placed her below him so swiftly), why should he be surprised that she, too, could be good? She could rub it in his face as revenge, and at another point on the time-line she might have done so. With Firefly she might have done so, but Mew saw no reason to do so now. She said nothing, and when he elaborated on his own confusion, she smiled at him, though not in the unpleasant way she could have smiled. Yes, she was still conflicted, and yes, she was still confused. But the birth of her children had taught her one important thing; heritage was not everything. It was not her children's fault that their father was a pathetic, sad little male who thought it better to run away than to help the one he had so intensely professed his love to. And so, she had slowly concluded that it was not Jefferson's fault that he had a coyote for a father. She still held some distaste for that race (changes do not occur overnight), but she would try to fight it for Jefferson's sake. And perhaps in time, she could learn something different than what she had so far, in years of experience with that smaller, red-furred kind of canine.
"I never hated you, but I was confused. For someone like me, it was surprising. Not only did I gain a brother, but one with half a foot in a world that had throughout my life brought me nothing but pain and suffering." For Mew, there had been no distinction between Inferni and coyotes; they were all evil, all prone to become violent killing machines, cannibals, eager to get their fangs bloodied by a species so close to their own. That was all she had known, and her mind had never been open to anything else. Jefferson had pried it apart and had forced her to move and look at it from a different angle. The children stared up at her both trying to understand what she was talking about, and checking if she was paying attention. If she was not, they could sneak off anf play, but she did see them, and glanced downwards quickly before continuing, nodding with her head in another direction as if to say "go ahead" but without words. They smiled eagerly and set off, but knew better than to go out of sight. Her emeralds returned to the single eye of her half-brother, and her face was calm and mild, quite unlike their first encounter. "In essence, I had a lot of time for thinking, and I decided that I was better off with another sibling, and without a bit of my bitter old self." Her gaze moved pointedly to the two children, as if emphasizing their importance in this change of heart. And they were important; in every way.
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Table by Sace/Hemming. Thanks!  [/html]
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