Recent weather had been highly favorable for Jefferson. Troubles on his mind kept the cyclops disturbed and frustrated, but sunlight and a clear blue sky were an unusual, temporary remedy for his worries. He spent more and more time outside, enjoying the fresh wind that blew and the sounds of the natural world. He didn't know when he'd become such a nature lover, nor if any of his underlings or comrades had any idea about it, but he wasn't complaining. If nature was what it took to calm a constantly storming mind of torrents and tornadoes, then Jefferson wasn't about to start seeking out other easy panaceas.

Thus he stepped along two-legged, standing tall as his single-eyed gaze pierced the bright blue dome overhead. He'd found a peace temporarily, as if the initial shock from recent weeks past was finally beginning to settle and allowing the Patriarch to return to his right mind (though burdened with new thoughts regardless, of course). There was no need to patrol borders--DaVinci had volunteered to do the deed that day--so he simply wandered instead, curious of the activities that his packmates were up to. Of course, he was more surprised when he came across a girl he did not immediately recognize... Leaning against a tree, he had to stare suspiciously a few seconds before realization made its way through, at which point he hastened his way towards her. "Skylar?" He said in clear disbelief--she was looking quite exotic, much different from her old self, but she'd also grown up into a blossomed little girl. "Skylar, when did you get back? You've... grown!" A rare smile from the heart lightened his face; he had never gotten to say goodbye to Skylar nor her brother when they'd left to see their mother, and to tell the truth, he'd worried for them if their father hadn't. Seeing no trace of Tyrone sank the cyclops slightly (he did miss the scamp of the boy he'd mentored in months past), but he smiled still at the girl and was glad to see her return.

Silently she took a flower from the ground and slowly examined it's beauty. The purple flower was something you'd imagin girls picking away at wondering if he liked them or not. Skylar snickered and stuck the flower into her hair. She kept debating in her head weather she should tell them the whole truth, before her brother came here; and she knew he would, looking for her and to see her father again. The girl moved her maw back and forth as if in deep thoughts, her soft golden flecked eyes light and pensive.

It was his voice that alerted her to his presence. It was the voice of an old friend, one she hadn't forgotten over the time. Turning to see him in a quick motion a smile came to her maw and her eyes reflected the happiness. "If it isn't Jefferson himself." The grey female said with a light hearted laugh. He hadn't changed much, it only made her happier. Skylar had always liked Jefferson, but her brother and he had been even closer. She was sure he wondered where her sibling was, heck if she even knew.

Putting her hands on her hips and bitting her lip Skylar took a thoughtful stance, but light hearted and teasing. "Hmm about a two days now. You think I turned out good?" She twirled around playfully, her large white poets shirt twirling with her. Usually a large belt adored the outfit, fitting right under her breasts, but she hadn't felt like wearing it. Stopping she looked at the scarred male and wondered if she should spill her guts to him. Maybe not.

She had a youth he envied and could not remember possessing himself; Jefferson remembered back to barely a year or so before, and thus the experiences of childhood he'd had as Maluki -- with Ceres, Laruku, everyone -- were gone. Had he lacked the scars he did or the handicap of a useless eye and arm, he might have been able to keep up with a pup like Skylar in a race or a hunt, but nowadays he took the position of the silent overseer, the quiet guardian with the fiery temper. Skylar and Tyrone had never been afraid of him, somehow; they'd had a good father who taught them well. Skylar reminded him of Iskata, though, and the thought of the old, lost woman almost erased his once-in-a-blue-moon smile.

She laughed and spun around, a woman in contrast from the little girl she'd been in his sight beforehand. She'd grown so much since the days when she'd taken care of her sightless grandmother in the barn or overheard the conversations between he and Iskata as such; she was no longer the innocent, defenseless little thing he'd come to know. Jefferson was pleased to know it: if anything, Skylar and Tyrone had been like a niece and nephew to him, in substitution for children of his own. Of course, that had changed, but that needn't be mentioned. "A little exotic, maybe," he laughed, shaking his head. Her hair was dyed pink and she was covered in piercings and fashion: her father's girl, no doubt. "Are you just visiting, or are you planning to stay?" He guessed that she had come to check in on her father and the pack, perhaps, but had bigger and better things to accomplish in the end.

Her own smile faded when Jeffersons did. What did he see that made him upset? Letting the question fall she took up a light smile again hoping to talk about other things. His words made her look away and chuckle. Exotic was a good way to describe what had happened to her, but what could a pritates women be other then exotic......wild? "Yeah, maybe I'll dimm it down so I don't come off as strong" Sky said lighly a long lost shyness arising. Her look had been what everyone had looked like on the ship, making her fit in and happy to do so. Here people weren't as extravagant and out there as she was at the moment.

His question was the begining to many, and she knew she wanted to tell him, because if she didn't tell someone it would eat at her. Telling her father would make him be disapointed in her, and she didn't want her father to think less of her, she loved him and wanted him to think the world of her. Dropping her hands from her hips she sat down next to the tree and looked up at Jefferson while patting the ground next to her. "Can I talk to you about stuff?" Her golden flecked eyes were soft and patient, she hadn't lost those qualities. Taking a deep breath she spoke. "I want to talk to you about stuff I don't think I can tell papa."

His question went unanswered, instead diverted into something else. He watched Skylar sink ever so slightly at his query, as if something was burdening her that was -- or had been for a while -- unsaid. Jefferson recognized that look, as he himself stood in the same position more often than not, and knew that she had things to admit even before she seated herself against the tree and gazed up at him with the same big, pleading puppy eyes he'd forgotten she'd had. "Can we talk about stuff?" "...Sure, kid," he shrugged, stepping closer and lowering down beside her.

She continued to speak, and as she did so, the one-eyed brute preoccupied himself with finding a small twig in the dirt and placing it between his jowls, chewing on the small branch idly as he was commonly seen doing in warmer months. "Your father's a good man, Sky. He loves you." A pause. "...Buuut, I can I keep a secret." Jefferson was a leader, a monster, and a newly-found father, but rarely a confidante. He wasn't complaining, of course. The cyclops idly untied the sling of his arm due to the discomfort of the knot against his shoulder and gnashed his teeth together and lightly cringed in pain as he guided his stiff, scarred arm to his side to rest. The twig between his teeth promptly snapped in half at the impact, and he glanced at her quickly to encourage her stories before looking to replace it.

Skylar nodded and watched him sit down next to her and start chewing on the twigs. His words were fact to her, she knew her father loved her, but it didn't mean he wouldn't be dissapointed or even disgusted with her choices. Taking in a deep breath she leaned her head back against the trees rough bark. Should she just let it all out and tell him everything? Knowing Jefferson she doubted he would tell anyone anything, he was a good listener and she knew she could trust him.

Looking at him so he knew she wasn't afraid Skylar started. "When me and my brother went back to the port we were happy, but I couldn't fit in. Where Ty was able to adapt to people I was so shy and akward it was hard for me. Well it wasn't much later that a man named Kaden......" She paused and fiddled with her hands almost afraid to tell him, but she got past the knot in her throat and continued. "Kaden came to the port and he got me alone behind some buildings and raped me. The whole time he told me that I would have to learn to be strong or he wouldn't be the last male to do this to me."

Skylar looked at Jefferson for a moment embarrassment flooded her at talking about Kaden. Shouldn't it be akward talking about sexual things with a man that she considered her uncle? The beautiful girls hands smoothed at her shirt and continued for the second time. "At first I was mad at him for doing it to me, but then I understood that what he had done was the thing I needed to break free, stop being so self constious. I guess I found strength in his brutality. It's probably wrong to say I went up to him and thanked him, don't think any rapiest has that saticfaction. I left with Kaden on his ship with out telling my mother or Brother where I was going. I'm sure it was wrong, but I don't think I could stay there and live like Ty was."

Without her voice the woods were silent. She plucked the flower from her ear and studied it. Would Jefferson think she was gross for falling in love with the man that had stolen her innocents? She wasn't sure. A grin set on her face, light and delicate but there. "I'm a pirates women I guess you could say. You can see why I wouldn't want my father to know?" The grey female said softly as the fiddled with the purple flower.

Needless to say, Jefferson was easily able to identify why Skylar was hesitant to speak with her father about such matters. However, Jefferson himself had been to hell and back -- he was a rapist himself, apparently -- and somehow, such conversation didn't strike him unfairly. He wasn't stricken awkwardly, nor uncomfortably: the brute simply mellowed and looked at her with a sympathetic green eye. Rape was not easy conversation: to find out that his somewhat-neice had been forced to endure such abuse sparked quite a bit of fire within, but his fuse had been considerably burnt as of late, and thus it was surprisingly easy to withstand the upset and not grow angry. He maintained a mellow mood -- DaVinci would surely act differently, and Skylar would need at least one level-headed relative to have a clear conversation with.

"...I won't question your choices," he said simply, referring to her decision to thank the man that raped her, though the brute did turn a pointed eye on her scoldingly. "You let your emotions get the best of you. Not everything has to have a happy ending." Story of my life. He shrugged his shoulders, knowing the girl had been born with her grandmother's twisted sense of optimism even in the darkest of times. Jefferson turned a scowl to her then, deliberate against her childish grin and content, smalltime talk. No, he didn't approve. No, he didn't see it as well as she did, but that was to be expected. "You're growing into a fool," he grumbled gruffly, forcing his sense of dire seriousness into the conversation that she was so desperately trying to avoid. Why hadn't he said more about the rape? What was there left to ask about it, anyway? What mattered was the here and now -- and pointing out her faults so that they would be learned from before it was too late. And yet, she was her father's daughter: a fool for love. Hopefully, she wouldn't turn out to be the constant, pain-in-the-ass type of fool her father was at all times.

She smirked at Jefferson. She had always loved his bluntness. She didn't mind that she was always happy, it was better then being deppressed all the time. His words made her laugh and roll her eyes. "Optimistic as ever Jefferson" Skylar smiled at her sarcasm. She wished Jefferson had more to be happy about. Maybe if Ty came back he would find more to enjoy. Leaning head head against the tree she thought about Kaden, and wondered if her desicion had been a bad one. After a moment of thinking about the rugged pirate she was sure she hadn't.

"I'd rather be a fool that's happy then a smart man who's miserable." The girl said with complete knowing. In the small amount of time she had been alive she'd seen a few men like that. Their ability to know all the answers was impressive, but in the end they envied those who had something that made them smile at the end of the day. Turning around Skylar laid on her back and put her hands behind her head looking up at the trees and the small amount of sky blocked by those trees.

"Why can't everything have a happy ending Jeffers? Is it because people say so? Or because there is some unseen rule?" Tilting her head to the side the lightest smile adored her face. "I've missed you jefferson. You Iskata and Papa." She said as she looked back up at the sky.

She flopped back, comforting her spine against the soft cushioning of the fresh spring grass and smiled and mused about whatever came to her mind, still the daydreamer she'd been as a child in contrast of her slightly more serious brother. It was no wonder that he and Tyrone had gotten along a little bit better; Ty had been more impressionable, and one way or another followed a bit in Jefferson's gimpy footsteps, but Skylar had always been an idealist and free-spirit like her grandmother. Jefferson chose not to answer her queries on happy endings at first, but frowned when Iskata's name came up in conversation. So she didn't know... perhaps it had been for the best.

Stiffening, the cyclops redirected his one-eyed gaze forward, following the wind into the distance. "Iskata is dead," he said, blunt and to the point. If she was to hear it from someone, better it was he and not DaVinci. The silver-furred idiot would have done something wrong in telling Skylar, be it how it was presented or something similar. She and Iskata had been close, after all, and the cards needed to be thrown on the table without room for misinterpretation. "Happy endings are for the ignorant," he finished. The words of a "smart, miserable" man. He wouldn't have preferred being any other way, after the things he'd done. "Happy endings happen when the miserable are accustomed to misery."

News could sometimes come slow, and seep into the brain little at a time. Other times it left the mind lost and not able to react at all. In Skylar's case it was denial. Her golden flecked eyes went to Jefferson and she snorted. "Stop kidding around!" Her voice held the humor of a joke. Deep down she knew this was Jefferson, and he didn't joke. The grey girl watched him for a few moments her thick long wavy hair getting into her eyes. It seeped in ever so slowly. Her fathers saddness.

Sitting up Skylar held back the tears that threatened to fall. She hadn't cried since the rape, and this this was even more painful. Her beloved grandmother was gone, and she didn't get to say goodbye, or even didn't get to spend more time with her. It was only perfect that that was when Jefferson would come back to Happy endings. Death was not a bad ending in her books, only sudden and sometimes selfish.

Letting her golden flecked eyes look to him she shook her head, an undieing light in those orbs. "Better to be ignorant then miserable." The girl said as she stood clutching her shoulders as she moruned the lose of her grandmother. Why did Jefferson have to be so unhappy? Her father as well? Why did she come back to all of this crap? His attachment to the first statement made her turn around and glare at him. "No. That is what you want to believe to make yourself feel better. Get over yourself your not the only bleeding soul!" Skylar snapped as she grabbed her bag and started away from the ignorant man.

He'd known her reaction the moment the words had left his tongue. The method in which she absorbed the information was the same way he had when his three children stared into his eyes: denial, but somehow an unspoken acknowledgment of truth underneath. The Patriarch, solemn and collected, did not flinch when she jumped to her feet and denied it. Skylar barely took the time to let the concept breeze through her mind before launching into some overdramatic tears and misery of a grandmother she'd only known so much about, but the one-eye remained silent and bowed his head in a still patience.

She tried to cut to his core, tried to get him riled up, but her attempts failed. Jefferson had seen far too much tragedy and confusion and been mixed up in too much shit in the recent past to be even slightly fazed by her childish, youthful remarks and accusations. Though Jefferson made no effort to look her in the eye, he felt her sharp gaze and recognized her words as that of a young, inexperienced child; it seemed all that she had bragged of her adventures at sea had only taught her so much, and not enough about death and dying. Even if he was a miserable creature, he was a far-seeing one: everyone was miserable on different levels. There were no possibilities of living a full, happy life without stumbling and scraping your knees a few times along the way. "Believe what you want of me," the cyclops said quietly as she stormed away. "...but Iskata is dead because you happy fools rule world."