[html] | http://digital-bonsai.com/katew/rp/kae/ ... tblood.jpg); background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:fixed; padding-top:248px; padding-left:25px; padding-right:25px; padding-bottom:10px;"> mall-caps;">Out of Character
For Rachi! Set in Beast's Grin.
mall-caps;">In Character
The coyote was pretty far from home. She'd traveled most of the night and part of day, cutting past the city on her way around a pack territory. She did not know the pack and she wanted to stay the hell away from them—they smelled like they were many members strong, and she was just one canine by her lonesome. The Lykoi gave them a very wide berth, cutting through the suburbs of the city but skipping past the heart of it. Those areas would have to be explored later when she had lots and lots of time to kill. For now, she just planned on taking a jog around the territories—it might take her the better part of a few days, but she had at least told Gabriel she might go instead of just disappearing. She was a stranger and a newcomer to this place, and she needed to learn the lay of the lands.
She had cut through a rather large forest, sticking almost exactly to the coast as she went, but keeping within the treeline the whole way. The place reminded her of the Haunted Forest, though its shadowy canopy was not the thick, soupy mist that seemed permanent on the ground of that grove. There were far more streams here, too—the hybrid had to cross a rather wide one that dumped into the ocean, picking her way across the silty, sandy bottom of it and watching tiny brackish-water fish flit between her legs, highly agitated that she was disturbing them so. She had stopped after crossing the delta, and took a brief nap to recharge herself, curling up into a tiny ball of gray fur in the underbrush. Just after leaving the thickest part of the forest, Kaena had come across another beach—she mounded a particularly large, low-lying hill and came across a low-lying beach. There were several dead sea-creatures being torn apart by gulls, and she could see the movements of more frantic swimmers in some of the tidepools, trapped until the ocean rose again.
She looked over the beach, and in the distance she saw a massive cruise ship, beached and grounded for however long it took for the thing to decay into dust. There were long, coppery streaks of rust along its sides, and several gaping hopes in the sides of the boat. The Lykoi thought that looked interesting to warrant an exploration, so she headed forward, splashing through one of the tide pools and frightening a few flat, dull fish into a frenzy. She snapped at their tails and missed, the agile creature just darting outside of her reach. The ashen hybrid continued on her way, picking along the sand as she went. This beach was less rocky than that of The Waste, and its grain of sand was somewhat finer than Inferni's beach. She could not see the other side of the vast bay from here. The coyote had begun to detect the scent of a wolf pack, faint and far-off in the distance.
After a few minutes of walking through the midday sun, obscured by a haze of clouds, the Lykoi reached the ship. It was even more massive up close than it was in the distance, and Kaena carefully picked her way around patches of earth that were stained vermilion by rust from the ship, heading for one of the jagged holes in the belly of the ship. She found it did no good, as it only opened up to an empty area of more rusted steel. On her exit, she spied a walkway. It seemed to lead to the deck, so the Lykoi headed up a slope and toward the end it, where there seemed to be a sort of ticket stand. The door was ajar, and the Lykoi stuck her head in, finding the bones of a long-dead human curled up in the corner. There wasn't much else of interest, so the silver coyote hybrid headed for the start of the sloping bridge. She had traveled in Lupus form, but now that she was in a place where she might find malleable objects, she shifted to her Optime form. After just a moment she was two-legged and had opposable thumbs. She immediately loosened the small pack she kept strapped over her back, having tightened it prior to her shift to keep it from banging around on her body as she walked as a four-legged beast.
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[html]  | |  | By the time Rachias had woken up the sun was already well into the sky, beating down on her resting body with rays of harsh heat. The woman that she had met the previous day, Ayegali, had told her of the pack AniWaya and the safety of taking refuge near their borders. She had been uncertain at first, though the seemingly wise woman had assured her that they were a pack of peace and, if Rachi showed no ill will toward their members or their lands, that they would leave her be. It seemed that the woman had told the truth, for Rachias rose in peace just as she had laid down in peace the night previously. There were no scents lingering near her, nothing to send her into a guarded state, just the quiet songs of birds as they passed through the trees ahead.
The young woman didn't linger near the pack lands for longer than she had to, immediately rising to set off further into the lands, choosing to head north to cut around the clearly marked borders. It had been a long time since she had been anywhere near the lands, living off to the west with Arkham and her children. Somehow she had imagined that once she returned everything would seem like some alien planet, completely different and not at all how she remembered it, but that hadn't been the case. The scents were all the same, despite the new ones that seemed mingled in here and there, and the lands were just the same as she remembered. There was also something else that she remember, even if faintly, that hit her on her way down the very outskirts of the beach.
Her once calm walk turned quickly into something of confusion. The scent was only faintly memorable, something that barely triggered thoughts and feelings in the back of her mind and her heart. She wanted to say it wasn't true, to ignore the scent that lingered and even grew as she continued at a slow pace down the beach. Before long she stopped, staring off in the distance and finally deciding that trail led to the ship that lay in ruins just off the coast. She'd always thought her dead, that she had run off to waste away by herself, and even when she was much younger she was sure that Gabriel and everyone else that had known her had thought the same thing. It had been so long since that scent had filled her nose and, despite that it suddenly seemed clear as day, perhaps she was wrong and confused.
After a brief moment of hesitation, she turned off toward the ship, making her way reluctantly across the sands. It didn't take her long to find the sloping plank upwards, which she began up carefully, until the point that she reached the top. The scent was stronger at the door than anywhere else and it almost frightened the young woman. She was ready to turn and leave, to forget that she'd ever caught that faint scent in the air, but her heart wouldn't let her. Just like it wouldn't let her give up on Arkham being alive and like it wouldn't let her give up on Andre. "Hello?" She called out finally, reaching forward to take hold of the old door but making no other movements.
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[html]  | mall-caps;">In Character
Though most of the exterior had seemed to be in the same state of decay as the exterior of the ship, even through the years of abuse and grime, Kaena had seen the splendor beneath, an abandoned ghost of riches and royalty. She reached the door of the ship and peered into the dim light of the interior. The lights had probably long stopped working, but there were enough windows to provide sufficient light, at least at the shallow parts of the boat. She stepped over the threshold into the stale air, inhaling deeply. There was a faint stink here that Kaena recognized—death.
The hybrid headed forward, passing through a short, narrow hallway without doors. She pushed the door open, and entered a massive room. It appeared to be some kind of dining room—there were many large tables and chairs, each set with exquisite silver utensils and an intricately detailed china plate. Kaena wandered over to one of the tables and picked up one of the knives, looking it over for a moment before tossing it back down on the table. It clattered loudly against the table, and the Lykoi turned back around, heading for the side of the room. Everything here looked the same, she mused, and then she heard another noise.
Kaena froze, perking her large ears to listen harder. It had sounded like a voice. The hybrid scowled, crouching down low and peering toward the door from whence she came, her single eye focused there. If someone had followed her up, they could easily corner her or get her lost in this maze, and the last thing Kaena wanted to do was starve to death on a boat. She slinked toward the door, softening her footfalls and keeping low to the ground, but moving quickly, cursing herself for having shifted just to play with pretty things—now if someone was looking to pick a fight, she'd have to do so in her Luperci form. It did afford her the use of her knife, but that was buried in her bag, and it was too late to dig it out now. Again, she cursed herself for being ill-prepared, and stopped dead in her tracks as the smell hit her nose, wafting in on the fresh air from outside.
Cold recognition crept through her innards, and Kaena didn't think she could be more upset if Salvaged himself had come back from the dead and stood in that doorway looking at her. The girl was much older now, with tawny brown hair that turned to the color of ash near the tips, piercing sky-blue eyes. Looking at her brought a twisting stab of pain to the Lykoi's heart—here was the daughter she'd left for that thing, Eris, whatever she was—demon, monster, reincarnation. Kaena wasn't sure anymore, the babbling of Astaroth's final words had all blurred and mixed together, bubbling from his mouth with his life's blood. Seeing Rachias now, older and almost unknown, a stranger to Kaena was more painful than any physical injury she had ever suffered.
The canine staggered, leaning heavily against the wall as she clutched her chest, her fist closed tightly over the brilliant red tattoo splashed across her chest. She had almost been able to forget about those three children in the meanwhile—coming back and not seeing them was almost a blessing to the Lykoi, because it meant she didn't have to think about what she'd done. She hadn't had to confront her loss and come face to face with it until now, and it was worse than she'd imagined possible. "Rachias." It certainly was not a question; the Lykoi matron had recognized that scent the instant the faintest wisp of it had wafted to her nose.
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[html] | | | The darkness seemed to seep right out of the doorway, grasping at her hand as she held fast to the door. Despite the hesitation, she couldn't seem to keep herself from leaning forward, letting blue eyes wander through a small portion of the darkness. It was lighter further in yet her eyes still needed time to adjust, making it almost impossible to pick out any shapes or forms that were lurking there. There was no sound, no movement, and Rachias wanted to tell herself that she was being foolish and there really wasn't anything there at all. It was all her imagination, something conjured up in her head by the pain that she still felt over the loss of her father. The scent was something that she wanted to smell (was it really?) and because of that it was the very thing that her mind fooled her with. She wasn't there in that old ship. She wasn't in these lands. Her mother was never coming back.
The silence was lifted after only a moment more, the darkness melding in to something that she could actually recognize. There was a form there, the sound of uneven feet, and soon enough she was able to make out the creature that lumbered through the darkness toward her. It's Samael. Run. She told herself in her head, still unable to forget that night in that house, unable to forget the masked man who had saved her from the hands of her own brother. He was long gone though, just like the woman that her imagination had mustered up. Arkham had run him off that night.
The form of the creature stopped suddenly, leaned in against the wall as if in pain, and Rachias blinked hard a few times, leaning farther in. Her own name was uttered just as the details of the woman finally hit her eyes and for a moment she went cold. There was no denying the identity of the cyclops of a woman standing there against the wall. She would always remember that missing eye, remember wondering what might have happened to make it go missing.
After a few moments sense and reason finally caught back up with her, though the initial shock of finding herself in front of a should-be ghost still hadn't left. "Yo-" You're supposed to be dead. She stopped the words before she could get them all out. They didn't seem appropriate for the situation but, then again, what did? Never did she think she would find herself face to face with the woman that had left so long ago. For the longest time she had thought that her mother had left because she didn't like her children, that she loved Eris so much she decided to take her and run away to start a new life. Then there was the rumor that she had gone away to die and, that being the very last that she had ever heard, was what Rachias had settled on and coped with. There wasn't much that Rachias could remember, just that very faint scent and that horrible looking eye. She had accepted that her mother was dead a long time ago.
"We thought you went away to die." It was all that she could manage, the only thing that she could muster that would explain her shock at seeing the woman. Maybe she really had run away with Eris after all.
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[html]  | mall-caps;">In Character
It was not that Kaena was surprised to see Rachias standing there before her; she had fully expected to see one of her abandoned children upon her entrance to Inferni. It had been that blessing and that hurt—Kaena had almost known she'd lost them, like she'd lost Kerberos so many years ago. He would be five and a half now, the living remnants of her first love, Zulifer. She wondered what had happened to him—he'd come back to Chimera once upon a time and stayed with Ahren for a few weeks, but he'd left just as quickly as he came, finding his half-siblings for just a moment before fleeing again. Perhaps this time he'd died, and the last of Zulifer was finally in the ground.
By all rights, Kaena should have been dead—she should have died a hundred thousand times over, but each time she walked closest to the other side, something saved her, clutching hold of her wrist and drawing her back from the very razor edge of death. She should have been killed twice as a youth, with her siblings and later by her half-brother, and each time her father had saved her. After losing Zulifer and then Zarah, it was Inferni that called her home, giving her the strength to turn around and head back. The coyote realized then just how close she had come this time—perhaps fate had written that Eris should have saved her, and Eris had denied it. She thought any of her other children would have. There was no one there to catch her that time, and Kaena had to save herself that last time..
The hybrid straightened herself, slowly advancing toward Rachias. She was still reeling, in awe of the fully grown canine before her. The coyote wanted to take hold of her and run her fingers through her fur, but she was afraid Rachias wouldn't let her, so she kept her arms almost at her side, bent at the elbows slightly. "Almost did," the coyote whispered, stopping just short of Rachias and peering into her eyes. There was joy visible in Kaena's gaze shining brightly behind her fire-gold eye, but it was clouded with something akin to fear—fear of rejection, fear of being pushed away and screamed at. Gabriel had not shown her anger, but she hadn't walked away from Gabriel when he was barely out of the den.
Rachias and Arkham had every reason to be angry—so had Andrezej, but darkest child was dead now. Another pang of guilt hit Kaena's heart, and she exhaled ragged, breaking her gaze from Rachias and instead focusing on the floor. "I'm sorry," she said, shaking her head from side to side, knowing full well it wasn't enough—there was nothing that would be. There were no words, there was no way to repair the divide she'd drawn between them. Even if Kae was a good mother to Rachias now, there was so much missed time, and Rachias was already an adult. She didn't need a mother. Again that shudder of fear gripped her, and she could not look at Rachias for a long moment, but again her scarred head rose, and that golden eye gazed at her daughter, still awed by her.
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[html] | | | There were too many emotions that welled up inside of her in the few minutes that she stood staring at her long lost mother. There was anger inside of her, so many questions that swirled through her head, and perhaps even a bit of joy that showed through in those blue eyes. For all of the horrid things that Andre had done, the way that he had treated his family, Rachias still had loved him and still wanted to believe that he could change. Nothing that her mother had done could even compare to what her brother had, could it? The young woman would never have the chance to see if her brother could change, Gabriel had taken care of that some time ago, but her mother could be another story, perhaps.
"Even Gabriel thought so." She stated, mouth creased into a confused sort of frown. Rachias disregarded the words and even the apology, to uncertain and confused to soak them up in those few moments. Too wary of the woman drawing closer to her. Rachias didn't take after the one-eyed woman, though nor did she take after her father, despite how close she had come to being just as ruthless as the Inferni Matriarch. It was Arkham who had changed her fate, who had stuck by her side and protected her and helped to guide her after their mother had disappeared. It was his concern and quiet love that helped her through. Their children would be much the same, she was certain, despite their questionable blood.
The children. The thought of her two joyous girls, who were away from the lands and staying with their father, hit her as she stood watching her mother, who had finally lifted her head again. There were so many things that she could tell the woman. Samael and Gabriel and Arkham, the fact that she was a grandmother, but despite all of that knowledge, Rachias struggled to find something to say.
"All that matters is that you came back, right?" And though she said it, Rachias was still unsure. It was never that easy, was it? Was she just passing through? Would she just up and disappear again in a matter of weeks? "Dad died.." She told the woman, a rather sudden thought, though one that she wasn't certain her mother would really care about. Still, perhaps it would give the woman some comfort to know that Rachias had a father, no matter how long it had taken their relationship to blossom.
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[html] | mall-caps;">Out of Character
Agh, I am making the assumption that somewhere along the line Kaena did realize it was Laruku, though I don't exactly remember if that was roleplayed out!? D: I suck, wow.
mall-caps;">In Character
The coyote watched Rachias's face, emotions flashing past like a time-lapse video, swirling behind her turquoise eyes. There was no one single feeling overwhelming her features, and she merely seemed confused, undecided as to which to follow. Kaena supposed that was a good sign—by far better than immediate screaming and anger. Kae herself didn't know how to feel. There was a restless awkwardness creeping through her chest. How could she tell Rachias what she had done? I left you for her? the coyote inwardly lamented, once again taken with her daughter's beauty. She had all the dainty features of a coyote and the size of a wolf, her highly mixed percentage giving her a perfectly exotic look, elements of wolf and coyote clearly present but melded perfectly.
It made sense—Gabriel seemed surprised. It was more common for canines to just disappear, never heard from again. They were always presumed dead, weren't they? But without proof, one could never know. Hell, Kaena's grandparents on both sides might still be alive, and she might have uncles and aunts, fifty cousins and second cousins she didn't know about. She never would know unless they came to her—that place had never been her home. Though Kaena was a Lykoi by name, her breed here was probably a far cry from the Lykoi that defined her father. Hell, they were trying to extinguish hybridization, and here Kaena had hand-crafted a flood of halfbreed children and grandchildren. She had carried the surname far from its origin, and warped the meaning entirely. She supposed she was one of the few who definitively knew that "Lykoi" meant wolf, though anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of etymology would be able to infer its definition. It was not so much a dark secret as something intentionally not mentioned.
There was too much that she had missed—it was just shy of two years now that she'd started staying away from Inferni, just a year and a half ago that she'd up and left, but it seemed like forever, and so much had changed since then, even the very ground Inferni walked on. The Lykoi didn't care so much about the change of scenery, but she wanted to devour all of the knowledge possible about her family; she wanted to know everything anyone could tell her. Kaena herself was not so unfamiliar with the kind of children Rachias had, though Kairo was only her half-brother, Kae was not so lucky as her daughter to have viable children the first time, and the second litter was intentionally abandoned by yearling Kaena, too terrified of her father's reaction if she brought him home pups that were at once her nieces and nephews and her children, pureblood Lykoi grandchildren. Now, Kaena might relish that kind of Lykoi, in a twisted sort of way.
The coyote's head bobbed slightly at Rachias's statement, and she again sighed, though it was smoother this time, acknowledging something Kaena did not wish to think about. Her mortality was a subject she had done well to avoid in the past, and the number of times she'd danced with the reaper and toed that thin, bloody line echoed again in her mind. "I will die here," she said, and it was not so much an affirmation as it was a promise, something Kaena had long thought about. Her long journey had been her last—she was too old to survive in the open wilderness alone again. It had taken a lot out of her, and Kaena was not yet fully recovered. A few of her ribs shone through along her sides, though she was nowhere near as emaciated as she had been at her worst, and she was clearly underweight, though she was clearly rippled with no small amount of muscle. Kaena had never been hulking, but walking endless miles had toned her and replaced some of her lost weight with muscle.
The youth's next words struck Kaena in a way that she hadn't thought they would. She hadn't guessed Laruku had died, but neither had she assumed she would find him here, waiting for her to perhaps rekindle some kind of relationship. They'd never, ever been like that—Kaena didn't even really get along with the real Laruku; she rather preferred Ryoujoku. At least his demon had been fun, but learning he was dead... Kaena's head spun for a moment, and she almost whined. She had planned to see him again, at least once—more, depending how well he received her. She had run off with another man, but they were never actually in a real relationship... so why would he be angry, why would he have given a shit what she did? It should have been a goddamn relief when Kaena stopped hanging around when he came to see the children, she just left him there alone with them while she went to see Astaroth.
She reached out to touch Rachias at long last, her fingers just lightly brushing the girl's hair from the side of her face. The ashen hybrid didn't know how close Laruku and Rachias had become after she left, but at least there was closure—at least there was no ghost to come haunting years later. "He was good to you?" she asked, her hand falling back to her side after a moment, hoping the answer was yes. She didn't know if her children knew their father's other side, the one that Kaena had been seduced by, and she knew Laruku was no outright danger to them, though he might have been apathetic toward their existence and stopped coming around after Kae wasn't there anymore, who knew? The silver canine certainly didn't, and that brought the ache back into her heart.
The hybrid's gaze fell to the floor again, her coal-colored ears falling back into her shaggy silver hair. It wasn't as if she hadn't had a choice in the matter—for sure, Eris was not a favored child, having been stained from the moment Kaena laid eyes on her. But there was still love; Eris was still her child, despite her wretched blood. Kaena couldn't let Astaroth simply run away with her. "I didn't want to leave you three," she said softly. She didn't want to, she didn't have to—but she did. She had thought of them often while tracking Astaroth, sore from their absence and wondering how big they were growing, all the while chasing a monstrosity that should not have existed.
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[html] | | | There were so many things that Rachias felt like she needed to tell her mother. So many things that the woman had missed and could so easily be filled in about if Rachias simply took the time to tell her. Certainly it would be nothing like experiencing it all but it would be something, at the very least. There had been the time that Arkham had saved her from drowning when they were so very small, back when they had swam out into the ocean to see what the colors in the water tasted like. Perhaps the time that she had wandered all the way to Clouded Tears after her mother had disappeared, sad that her father no longer came around. Then there was that spiteful, childish notion of tattling on Gabriel about how it seemed so easy to run away from their old home without Arkham. She had barely spoken to her brother since then. The last time she had seen him had been when she chased him away from the ill father with a broom.
Despite all of the memories and the things that she could share, the young woman was still awestruck, still trying to settle on a single emotion. She never expected to see her mother again and thus had never prepared for an encounter. What would her father have done? Hidden himself away from everyone and everything, as per usual, but that wasn't something that Rachias had in her. She had been hidden for far to long, dedicated to her father and then to her brother and their children. She couldn't hide from her own mother and, wherever he might have been now, she knew that her father would understand, no matter how badly he wanted to keep her away from them.
Rachias was silent for a time, waiting for the woman to speak, and the words that finally came surprised her just a bit. She did intend to stay, which were what her words implied, and Rachias wasn't sure how she felt about that. She had only returned to the lands to get a bit more information about her father and, perhaps, figure out who it was that had died with him in the fire that night. Could she really disappear away from her mother so quickly after all the time that she had been gone? "I might stay longer than I had planned." She said quietly, uncertain. It was both a quiet acceptance of the woman that she had lost so long ago and an indication that she indeed had a life elsewhere, that she wasn't tied to these lands like she might have been at one time.
What came next took her a bit by surprise and she watched the hand as it moved for her face, brushing away the hair that had gathered there amidst all of the excitement. However unsure and confused she had been, Rachias couldn't help leaning toward the hand that reached out for her, even if only a bit. She had often wondered what the love of a mother was really like. "I went to find him after you left." She admitted quietly, something that had happened so very long ago. "He didn't really want me there at first, but I never went away." He had seen how badly it had hurt her to know that she wasn't that important to him. It hadn't mattered after that though, their relationship had changed to something that she wouldn't have given up for the world. "He was good to us all though, even if I was the only one who even tried to bother with him." She so wished that Arkham could have seen in him what she had.
There was something about her mother's demeanor as she spoke of having not wanted to leave them, implying that she had been left with little choice, which struck something in the heart of the young woman. She seemed genuine, truly upset that she had missed out on so much and that she had been gone so long. Her first reaction was to yell and scream and ask the woman why she had left if she hadn't wanted to, but Rachias had learned long ago that acting in such a way would get her nowhere. Instead, without even questioning why she had left, the young woman shuffled forward a sparse few steps to wrap her arms around the woman who had been missing from her life for far to long. Her heart was leading her instead of the jumbled mess in her brain.
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[html] | http://digital-bonsai.com/katew/rp/kae/ ... tblood.jpg); background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:fixed; padding-top:248px; padding-left:25px; padding-right:25px; padding-bottom:10px;"> mall-caps;">In Character
Kaena sorely wished she had some tale of heroics to give Rachias, some valiant, good thing she had done with herself instead of raising her children, but her only excuse was Eris, and that was a pathetic excuse, at best. There was nothing in her mind but lost time; time spent relentlessly tracking the dark coyote, following him through desolate wilderness. Time spent killing him, then recovering from her brush with the reaper. A long, spacey stretch of lost time, where Kaena wandered aimlessly, broken-hearted and ignorant to the route home. There was recovery from that, too, but the Outpost was too minor of a detail, and it had only been a vector to home in the end, anyway.
The coyote wondered if Astaroth might have taken Rachias, Andrezej, or Arkham instead. Surely she would have pursued him just the same, but it would have ended with Astaroth, and she would have taken her time to recover with her child and then gone home. There would have been no interim, no searching for Eris, allowing the scent trails to grow stale and the memory of the way fuzzy. None of the others would have left her like Eris did; they would not have been swayed so easily by the serpentine whispers of the false devil. The Eternity child had begun to guess she was not wholly related to her littermates; she had asked Kaena one night, to which the hybrid had no answer.
Rachias spoke, and the words brought something new to her ruined face, burning behind that sun-gold eye fiercely. It was hope—her daughter was not just passing through, then. The young hybrid wouldn't be gone in an instant like so many others, and though perhaps family did not bind her here like it did her mother, it still held some sway over her. She leaned into Kaena's touch, and her heart warmed, the rarest of emotions in the Lykoi matron, provoked only by her children. None of her lovers, none of her mates had struck that feeling in her heart as cleanly and true as her children could. Not even Zulifer, though by now Kaena was certain she'd idolized him to the point of flawless godhood in her memory, clear hyperbole even to the Lykoi who had known him so many years ago.
The hybrid listened to her daughter speak, hurting for her. Laruku had been indifferent to his children, then. It was no surprise to the Lykoi; though they were certainly physically his children, he had no recollection of their conception. At least he had the decency to show them kindness instead of his fangs. Kaena was grateful for that, and she silently thanked the dead hybrid. She had never loved him, no—but he had given her Rachias and Arkham, and Andrezej, too. That forever cemented him in her heart. He had lived life as a wolf, but Kaena had been able to overlook that for his blood. He was the son of Arlo Xyl, a coyote Kaena remembered well, if only because he was the adopted son of Yasu Zarah. It was only fitting that Kaena would have had his children; it was merely Inferni reaching out to draw back the blood of a founding coyote into itself. Fate, perhaps, or maybe it was just the magnetism of blood.
The hybrid didn't know what to say to Rachias. She didn't want to tell her that Laruku, in all likelihood, had never wanted them. Kaena had not planned them, no, but were certainly wanted children from the moment she'd learned of their existence. She smiled, but it was a sad one, tugging the corners of her mouth up slightly, though it did not touch her eye. That part of her face was lost, thinking of Laruku. She should have known him better—she should have made more of an effort to know him, instead of just consorting with Ryoujoku and dealing with Laruku when he stopped by to see the children, when they were very young. After considering a moment, she said, "I'm glad you knew him."
The coyote was pleasantly surprised with Rachias' reaction. Instead of having to explain herself, there were no questions—her daughter merely stepped forward and pressed herself close to her mother, and Kaena did the same, resting her head lightly on Rachi's hazel-furred shoulder. There was a heavy exhale, a sigh of clear relief and elation, and Kaena held her tightly. Her hand reached for the back of her daughter's head, those same fingers that had eviscerated and maimed gently stroking her daughters hair, her other arm holding onto her tightly. The elder murmured her daughter's name again, turning it over her tongue and savoring its sound. "Rachias," she said, but her voice was filled with that same hope that had flashed across her face, all of the anxiousness and fear evaporated from it.
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[html] | | | It felt good to feel the warmth of her mother against her, to finally know what it was like after always imagining the day she might appear. When Rachias was younger she often worried that her mother would return to Inferni and, because she had run off to live with her father, she might never know that she had come back. Of course Rachias now understood that, if she had returned, she would have come looking for her instead of just accepting the idea that she had moved on elsewhere. It didn't matter now though, they'd found each other, in a sense.
Her name was spoken quietly and for a moment she could remember it from when she was young, be it when her and Andre were tumbling around the den or when she had trailed off a bit to far from the rest of her family. The sound of her name made Rachias close her eyes and blink back the few tears that threatened to spill. "Thank you for coming back, mom." She spoke quietly, pulling slightly away from her mother to look at her and, finally, Rachias smiled. Knowing her now, no matter how long she had been gone or why in the world she had left, was better than never knowing her at all.
"Arkham and I left to live elsewhere when dad died." She explained quietly, wanting to give her some indication that her other son was safe and alive. Andre, on the other hand, was not. Though somewhat certain that Gabriel may have already told her, she had obviously been to Inferni, Rachias wasn't even certain how to bring it up in the first place. "We use birds to send messages when we're apart.." She smiled again, though unsure if it was meant for her mother or the thought of the family she had back home. "I can let him know that you've come back and.." She paused a moment then, uncertainty and excitement bubbling in her stomach. "and to have him send my children up here, if I'll be staying longer." Her mother was the first to hear the news.
"I'd like for them to meet you but I'll have to go to Inferni to speak with Gabriel." She frowned a bit at this fact, looking somewhat ashamed. "We haven't gotten along so well in the past." And it was really all just a big and frustrating story. Rachias wasn't even sure if she was ready to forgive him for leaving Arkham behind. She'd thought her brother was dead for so long until he had finally shown up one day and, though it might not have been exactly true, she liked to think that he had come back just for her.
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[html] | mall-caps;">In Character
The hybrid allowed herself to fall into Rachias' arms, trying to soak up all the love and affection she could before it was gone again. In a few short minutes, Kaena inwardly tried to make up for twenty-odd months of absence, the long time away in which her tiny child had blossomed into a beautiful young woman. There was tension, there was lurking anger—but all of it had been put away for now, and Kaena was too happy to bury them for the moment, leaving the hard times until later. They'd be worse, but for now, the Lykoi matron would not have this perfect moment spoiled by wretchedness. Rachias spoke, and they pulled apart, and almost immediately the elder hybrid regretted it; she wanted to clutch ahold of her daughter and never let her go again. She held her composure, instead again looking over her flesh and blood in amazement, memorizing every tiny detail of her.
Rachias thanked her, which surprised the coyote. Instead of verbally responding, a small smile spread across her face, and she merely nuzzled her daughter's shoulder again, rubbing the side of her muzzle against her tawny fur. She thought of Gabriel again, and wished he would have addended his thoughts on her life status—perhaps instead of simply "she's probably dead" he might have added "but if she's not, she'll be back again someday." Such was the story of Kaena's life—she'd wandered far and wide until just before her second birthday, when she found Zarah on the beach that night and they began the Inferni legacy together. After that, there was nowhere else—this was home. Regardless of what drove or drew her away, she always returned. He had to have known that; that thought had to have crossed his mind. But perhaps her golden son did not wish to instill a false hope in his siblings—then again, Gabriel had always seemed to resent Astaroth's children for some inexplicable reason. Perhaps he did the same with her youngest children for having had to raise them in her absence.
The thought dampened her spirits, but she listened to Rachias, Arhkam's name catching her full attention. She spoke of him as though he still lived, and a part of Kaena that had been frozen in fear since she had walked up to Inferni's borders and smelled it lacking Laruku's children melted, beating again for the first time in a few weeks. She knew Andre was dead—there was no saving him, but Arkham and Rachias might still be salvaged from the wreckage she'd left in her wake. Kaena was happy to hear her children keeping communication so well, though even from Rachias' revelation about her children, she could not infer the true reason why. Elated, the hybrid's eyes widened, and she smiled a broad grin, one that seemed almost comical on her scarred face. "You have children?" she marveled. Naturally, the hybrid was extremely pleased to learn her brood had ever-increased, her heart swelling with pride. Rachias had spoken of Arkham, howver, and that set an entirely different train of thought out of her mouth, slowly; her voice wavered slightly, and she stalled once. "If... if Arhkam will come..." she started, unable to finish the thought. The alternative to Arkham not coming was too terrible to speak; that meant that her son would never forgive her.
Her daughter's next words brought a cloud of confusion over Kaena's roan-dashed face. Perhaps her earlier suspicion was correct, and Gabriel indeed held resent for his siblings? The hybrid mirrored Rachi's frown, and she shook her head firmly. "No matter what's happened between you two, he can't refuse you," the ashen canine said. "I won't allow that." Though Kaena's voice held nothing but confidence, in her heart she doubted if she could make Gabriel do anything he didn't want to, if she ever could. He held the reigns of Inferni now, and she was one among its ranks, sworn to follow his word. It didn't mean she couldn't challenge his law, though—and no matter who ruled Inferni, she was still his mother. Kaena could see no good reason as to why Gabriel might cast Rachias off—only two of the Lykoi had ever betrayed their kind badly enough to warrant a banishment or worse. One beneath Kaena, and one beneath Gabriel. Rachias knew damn well who'd been expelled from their wake during Gabriel's reign, and he had received the ultimate punishment for continued crimes against the blood. Vitium still walked the earth, though if he had been any other member of Inferni, Kaena certainly would have killed him outright on that beach. Only Viti's heritage kept him breathing.
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