[html]  Things had been fairly bland in Clouded Tears for the past few days, nothing but snow outside and her inside, keeping warm in the den that she shared with her father. For the most part he'd seemed more together than usual, which was both a good and a bad thing. She was stuck with the pushover father and she hadn't seen the other in quite some time. The other was the more interesting of the two, the one that seemed more inclined to acknowledge the fact that she existed and actually do things with her. It was actually sort of frightening to think about, not knowing if she would ever see the other side of her father again or not. For now, though, she would have to put up with him wanting her to go back to Inferni, which he should have known by now, wasn't going to happen.
In the midst of the slow day, Rachias had decided that she would go off and explore, perhaps the streets of the city, since she had yet to go there on her own. It wasn't difficult for her to find her way, the city being so close to Clouded Tears and all, so when she reached the asphalt streets of the city fairly quickly, she wasn't at all surprised. The houses were huge and looming, some even blocking the faint glow that the sun gave off, and they were certainly a sight to behold. Sure, she'd seen houses before, but not so many in one place. As she made her way down the street, Rachias stopped to admire a particular house. It was rather small, actually, bit it sad in a lot with a wide margin of land around it. |
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He wasn't sure when he had grown so old, but five months seemed like such a big number. It was an odd feeling knowing that the days he lived and spent now would never come back to him; these were once-in-a-lifetime sunrises and sunsets because he had all the rest of his life to be an adult, but only what, four, five more months of this mock innocence? Concepts swirled around in his head, all the things people had told him about that eventual journey that everyone took to discover themselves, to find out where they belonged and why. It wasn't something he actually thought about often, but when he was alone, it seemed like all paths converged to the same place. Said a certain way, anything seemed plausible enough, so how was he supposed to chose between them when each was as reasonable as the next?
It seemed like it had been forever already since he'd seen his sister and some of the gnawing loneliness had faded from necessity. He knew he could and should visit and honestly didn't know what stopped him half the time. He could have sought her out when he had sought out their father, but the meeting had left him a little depressed and he had just taken the excuse to go home. He wandered down the streets between the cookie-cutter houses, stopping now and again to stare at the snow-covered lawns and wondering what this place must have looked like a hundred years ago, or however long it had been since people had lived there. Arkham wasn't really paying much attention though; he was thinking, but he probably couldn't tell you what he was thinking about if you had asked.
And then he looked up again and was surprised. Perking both his ears up suddenly, he stopped and blinked. Rachias?
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[html] Rachias found it odd, as she stared across at the empty house, that no one lived in the place. There were so many things to be discovered, so much room and potential, and it was all just sitting and wasting away. Perhaps the houses frightened everyone. They were quite large and, if she hadn't already been accustom to a house in her youth, she might have been intimidated by them also. Blinking a few times, the cream and caramel colored hybrid turned away from the house, just about to make her way farther down the sidewalk when she heard her name suddenly. Confused and somewhat off guard, she whipped around to see who it was that had been stalking her, or, what she assumed was stalking her.
The moment blue eyes laid upon his form there was a spark. Something inside of her lit up and there was a new fire about her. Tail began in a frantic wag from side to side, choking on her own words before she finally got them out. "Arkham!" She squealed, just as high pitched as she could, and practically threw herself forward to get to him. Honestly, she hadn't been sure that she'd ever see him again, but now all of those fears and doubts had been pushed away. She ran at him hard, almost afraid the concrete would crumble beneath her paws, and she didn't stop until she practically smacked right into him. "I missed you!" |
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He should have expected her reaction -- she really hadn't changed much at all, even though it seemed like forever already -- but he had been caught off guard too and so his eyes widened as she bolted towards him and the pup had to rear up and take a step or two back so the collision wasn't as head-on. I've missed you too! he exclaimed, I went to visit once, but I couldn't find you! Arkham didn't mention that he actually hadn't looked as hard as he could have and of course, he couldn't mention that he had been half-dreading a reunion because he wasn't sure he wanted to hear how much she liked her new home. Faolin told me you came back for a little bit too, but I guess I missed you there too.
Despite his usually reserved ways, he found his own tail swaying back and forth and he smiled a little, So how've you been? What's it like living with dad? They were questions he had to ask, regardless of what he felt about hearing the answers. Rachias had to know about their father's strange condition, right? Even if she hadn't known before, she had to know by now. Did she know that one of them was dangerous? And what if she didn't? How was he supposed to explain that to her when he didn't really understand it himself? Gabriel and Ahren had both confirmed it and Faolin didn't deny it, but none of the adults could give him a proper reason why. How could he explain a whole bunch of ifs and maybes to his sister?
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[html] Once she skidded to a complete halt, barely missing Arkham only because he moved, she brought herself to stand up straight, wiggling all over as she stood in front of her brother. It didn't take much for her to lean forward, promptly laying a wet kiss to whatever part of his muzzle that her tongue was able to reach, and she smiled. The smile only grew when he spoke of missing her also, but as the words went on her demeanor became a little more calm, perhaps even a little sad. "Yah, I was trying to see you but I didn't make it." Rachias stopped short on the explanation of exactly why she hadn't seen him, keeping silent about the goings on of that day.
"It's not really nuthin' special. He just complains at me all day about going back to Inferni to live." At that moment, standing there in front of her brother, she might have seriously considered returning to Inferni. Rachias knew that she wouldn't be able to though, not even if she honestly wanted to. He would be there, waiting around to kill her whenever he had a chance. It was sad really, that Rachias honestly thought that her own brother would end her life if he had the chance. "Been alone alot really. Nobody comes around much an' I can't really go to Inferni." Maybe he wouldn't ask why, perhaps he would, but she would feel better if he knew why exactly she hadn't visited him yet. "How have you been?" |
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He realized rather suddenly that were about a billion things he wanted to talk to his sister about, to ask her, to tell her, to discuss and wonder with her. It was strange, somehow, that right then was the most he had ever missed her in all her time gone and she was standing right in front of him now. His giant ears perked when she spoke of their father and he felt himself relaxed when she very clearly described the more mellow of the two personalities. Have... he considered his words, not sure if there was a way to ask without sounding stupid if she didn't know he was talking about, Have-- has he ever grinned at you funny? If was difficult for him mostly because he had yet to meet this mysteriously dangerous part of their father. Part of him hoped he never would because he could already imagine all sorts of monstrous things he could be, but the other half wanted to know more and that was something he could only get by meeting him.
Are there other kids there? he wondered quietly. If it's lonely there, why don't you come back? Why can't you come back to Inferni? His voice was earnest and he felt guilty for asking -- he knew she probably felt a lot of pressure to come home, especially if she'd spoken with Gabriel when she visited. Arkham didn't want to add to that, but he still didn't understand why she was so adamant about staying. Especially if the experience wasn't as magnificient as she might have once believed. The grey pup shrugged in reponse to her own question. Okay, he said, I don't do much. Gabriel is usually busy and I don't like bothering Faolin much. And... his expression was dark for a moment, Andre has never been good company. He still had several scratches and bruises from their fight a week or two back. They were mostly healed now and he doubted they would scar, but the coyote pup had a feeling that it wouldn't be the last time and teeth only grew sharper as they aged.
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[html]  There was still a childish lack of common sense about her in some terms, one being the fact that she simply automatically expected Arkham to know all about their father(s?). It was a curious thing, what he asked, and after a moment or two of thought she was almost certain she knew what he'd meant by it. "Oh yeah!" And she nodded to help get her understanding across. "All the time." Her voice lacked fear or anything a cause for concern. Actually, she was quite excited to be able to explain it to him. "It's when he's the other one, when he's different, y'know? He's more fun when he grins cause he actually pays attention to me, we go an' do stuff sometimes." And even if it was only sometimes, it was better than the other one. "When he ain't grinnin' then he just sits there lookin' sad really, buggin' me."
It was likely that she could have gone on and on about how lame one side of him was and how awesome the other side was, but when the next set of questions came to her ears her mood dropped. It was a sudden sad sort of feeling that crept over her and, for the time, she kept silent. He explained that he'd been alright and spoke of Gabe and Faoly, which she could only force a smile at. "When I went there last time, when I was goin' to see you, I found Andre instead." There was deep concern there, as there usually was when it came to Andre. "He tried to kill me, Arkham, but I ran off. Told me that I wasn't welcome, that I was trespassin', an' if I ever came back he'd kill me for sure." She frowned then and turned her head away from him, staring off at the houses in the distance. "S'why I can't come back." It was to late now, he'd always try to kill her.
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It distressed him considerably to see his sister describe the "monster" father in a much more positive light than the "normal" one. How could her interpertation of him be so different from everyone else's? Gabriel and Ahren, at least, had all met the man before too and he assumed that they had seen both sides if they were able to describe him to him -- if both of them stuck to the idea that the other half was dangerous, then why did Rachias think otherwise? Was the man a trickster? Or were his brother and his brother's father simply mistaken? What kinda stuff do y'do together? he wondered incredulously. Everyone says the grinning one is the dangerous one, he added quietly and looking away. Gabriel said to just run if you ever saw him like that.
The grey pup narrowed his eyes further at his sibling's description of her previous visit. His large ears flattened themselves against his skull and he found himself growling a little in the back of his throat. Sounds jes' like him, he grumbled darkly, He fought me too, just for standing there. His expression softened again then, But he shouldn't stop you from coming! Just come to the house! He's never there and he wouldn't mess with Gabriel anyway. Unless he was stupid, which Arkham found himself thinking, and so what if he did? He would just get beaten into place and he deserved nothing less.
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[html]  "He shows me around 'n stuff a lot, but he hasn't been around a while now, so we didn't get to do much more than that." There was a sort of disappointed sound in her voice as she explained it, almost sad that she hadn't seen the more interesting side of their father in so long. "Y'don't gotta run, he hasn't never done anything dangerous that I saw an' I live with him." Which meant she saw just about everything that went on, at least, when she actually hung around the den. If anything, Rachias was certain that they should all be more concerned about Andre then their dad. One had attempted to kill her and, despite what everyone else thought, the other hadn't.
"Guess I could come in the back an' go straight to the house." She nodded her head a little, considering her words for a moment. "Maybe you could walk me back to the borders on the way out." She commented, smiling almost sheepishly at her brother. She knew that Arkham would keep her safe, whether it be from dangerous waters or a killer brother. She moved then, scooting herself closer to her brother until she point she was right up against him, tucking her head under his chin to nose as his chest. "'sides. It hurts when I miss you." |
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Despite his sister's words, he found that his suspiscion remained and even grew. Arkham trusted all of the people that were giving him information and realized that all of their viewpoints could fit very squarely to the same individual (or half of an individual). It was clear then that this "monster" father was a trickster and that he knew very well the gullible ways of a child and was taking advantage of that. From his perspective on the outside, this deduction came systematically, but he knew immediately that there would be no convincing Rachias without in-your-face proof. What if he's trying to trick you? he wondered quietly, despite himself. He didn't really want to argue when the only thing he had behind him was the words of others, but he believed in it anyway.
A rather heavy sigh escaped his small body and he let his sister lean into him, enjoying both her presence and her warmth in the winter cold. I'll kick Andre's ass if he comes close, he muttered seriously. He didn't really know what to make of the last comment though. It was very sweet, but sweetness was usually very absent in his life and he didn't know how to respond. Y'don't gotta miss me, he settled on awkwardly. Come home, he wanted to tell her. If the father she preferred was gone anyway, why not? Andre wouldn't be able to hurt her if Gabriel was aware of his intentions. She would be fine. But he was half-sure that he'd promised himself not to pressure her and so he said nothing more than that.
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The 'monster' father was something she knew all to well. Perhaps not from actually being around him constantly, but rather the memory of words that people had spoke about him. Evil, dangerous, a whole array of other things that she couldn't manage to think of at that moment. Honestly, though, what made him so different that he was to be kept away from them? Andre was their brother, after all, and had already vowed to kill his siblings. Hybrid and Sam were really no better either, though Sam seemed to be a bit more in control of his actions and thoughts than the rest of them. If she had to choose she's rather her father kill her than her brother because, at least, it would be out of some twisted sort of love.
"I promise I'll be careful Arkham." It wasn't said just to make him feel better either. When she said it to Arkham, just like everything else she said to him, she meant it. She folded her ears back a bit more at his next words, head lifting away from his chest so that she could look at him then. "You should see how sad he is. Maybe he is lonely and he really does want me there. Maybe he just can't say so." The girl admitted quietly, somewhat reluctantly, that she actually felt bad when he was sad. "I can't just leave him. He needs a family too." Would he brother understand?
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Arkham had seen their real father (it was an ironic description, but he still hadn't realized that it had been the monster that had conceived them after all) before. It had been a depressing atmosphere even before anything had come out of his mouth. It had fed the curiosity in him, but he had been too afraid to ask at the time and it didn't seem like Rachias knew exactly why either. I guess so, he conceded, but then some other thoughts came to him. Doesn't he have other family though? Gabriel said his family had run the pack and he sort of inherited it, so what about the rest of his family? In subsequent months and maybe years, the boy would come to realize that there were so many branches to their family tree that it really wasn't even worth mentioning at all sometimes, but for the while, the vastness of his heritage eluded him still.
We should have a meeting spot in the city, he said out of the blue, Somewhere between Inferni and Clouded Tears where no one would bother us. It was a simple, childish concept. A secret meeting place for a secret club that only they would know about. With the rest of their family either uncaring or hostile, it seemed like it would be a good counterbalance. Arkham would never admit just how much he missed smiling company, but it didn't seem like the suggestion was too suspicious anyway.
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In all honesty, Rachias probably wouldn't have minded returning to Inferni if Andre wasn't there. It was a hard decision for such a young girl though, whether to turn and leave her father to return to her brother. Arkham didn't need her though, did he? He could come and visit and they could spend time together like that, right? If she went back to Inferni though, she doubted her father would ever bother to stop by and see them. It would be like he didn't exist, she was certain, and she wanted him to exist. "Dunno." She said honestly, giving a faint shrug of her shoulders. "Don't think I've met or seen anyone that supposed to be releated." Of course, Rachias hadn't met many of them at all.
"Yeah!" Rachias exclaimed in a childish moment of excitement only mere moments after the idea was spoken. Leave it to Arkham to have all the good ideas, just like always. Rachias tucked her head in just a bit, leaning into her brother more. "We could pick a special house or somethin'." Her voice was hushed as she spoke, almost as if it was such a huge secret that it needed to be hidden from the world.
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The boy rarely thought that any of his ideas were good or worth pursuing, but he had become accostumed to his sister having enough enthusiasm for the both of them anyway. Unlike the diasterous venture to sea however, Arkham saw no real danger in dictating a house "theirs." It would be obvious if someone else had already claimed it as their own and they wandered through so many broken buildings on every trip to the city that any danger from falling ceilings was pretty much a moot point. He gave his sister a quick nudge in reponse to hers and then took a step back, smiling his small smile.
Come on then. Let's go find a house. The grey pup then resumed walking up the street he had been heading down, Did you see anything good over here? Truthfully, Arkham had not spent as much time in the suburbian areas as he had in the more industrialized city, but he already preferred the softer paints and structures to the unfriendly grey towers that rose from the rubble further in.
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Rachias wondered, for a very brief moment as the silence settled in, if Arkham knew just how much she wanted to go back to Inferni if only so she could see him every day. Clouded Tears was a fairly lonely place in that she hardly ever saw anyone else at all and all of that time alone just made her think about how much she enjoyed her brother. There was still that tie to her father though, making it almost impossible for her to just up and leave. She doubted very highly that she could ever convince her father to up and come to Inferni and, even less likely, also convince Gabriel to let him in.
When Arkham nudged her in return she simply smiled and nodded her head, gathering herself to follow along at his side, if not slightly behind him so that he could lead. At his question she had to think a moment, recalling the small house that she'd seen before she bumped into him. "There was a little house. Smaller than the other ones but with a lot more room around it." They didn't something extremely huge, right? And maybe they could even stash the goodies that they might find in there. And ooooh. She could leave him random presents there, if she could ever think of anything fitting to give him.
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Arkham had heard of packs merging before to form bigger ones, especially when the two individuals were smaller and needed the strength of numbers. Unfortunately, he severely doubted that Gabriel would be keen on fusing Inferni with anything anytime ever, especially not with wolves. Besides, he was sure that both his mother's clan and his father's pack weren't in need of any extra numbers if their legacies were really as powerful as he had been led to believe. He knew that his family's ties with the beach and Inferni had been there for many, many years already and imagined that his father's family's ties with Clouded Tears were similar. They were two superpowers at different sides of the land and of different speices entirely. How strange it was to be caught between the two of them.
Is it that one? He wondered, looking at a little cottage-like home. It was wedged between two other larger houses and was made of careful red brick, though time and age had layered it with dust and several creeping green vines that went all the way up to the slate colored roof. The windows were all broken just like all the others and the front door had probably once been a dazzling white, though now it stood a stained yellowish color. Potted plants littered the porch - some were dead, but others were utterly overgrown. Let's go see. The boy found his way down the sidewalk leading up to the small building. The door was open and he ducked inside.
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There wasn't much that the girl knew about the history of either pack, not something that she'd taken much interest in. She did know that they were now connected in some twisted way because of her and her brothers. It was likely not something she would ask about either, at least not until she was much older, though she did have it in her mind to go and see if she could find some of her father's supposed family. If she didn't find any then it really wouldn't be a huge deal but, if she did, maybe they would be able to tell her why he seemed so sad all the time.
"I think so." She said quietly, though somewhat unsure. Rachias stayed still a moment, peering at the small house and trying to decide if it was or not. Honestly, she really didn't remember where it had been, though this did look a lot like it. Finally deciding that it really didn't matter, she rushed off after Arkham, who was already halfway in the door. She made it in behind him shortly after, wrinkling her nose almost immediately at the old smell. She would've though, with the broken windows and all, that it wouldn't smell so old. The dust, perhaps. "Doesn't look like anybody live here." She commented, stepping in just a bit more.
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Strangely enough, it was not the odor he noticed first but a painting hanging above the fireplace at the other end of the building. From the front door, the hallway extended straight down to the far wall. It was a dusty oil portrait of a human family - a mother, a father, a girl, two boys, and their tamed dog. Minus the latter, it was just like his own family, though the people in the picture seemed much happier and they were all standing together (he wasn't sure such a case had ever been true for him and besides, didn't he also have a missing sister along with his mother?). The boy blinked and looked away though, suddenly with the uneasy feeling that ghosts were watching him (did he even believe in ghosts?). Not anymore, anyway, he replied, quieter than he wanted.
On either side of the doorway was an open space - a room without a door. On the left was a study, office-like area with bookshelves and an empty desk; on the right was a dining area with a table cracked down the middle and a broken base filled with fake flowers. C'mon. Oversized feet took him down the hall where a kitchen emerged with a tiny living room. The painting didn't look as eerie from up close, but he still averted his gaze rather quickly. There was another hallway and three doors, all open, though he couldn't see what lay beyond them from where he stood. Do you think it's creepy here? He hoped his voice didn't sound too anxious, but the truth was that he wanted to get out of there and find a different house.
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Despite how brave she may have wanted to appear to her brother, when she entered the house, she stayed very close to him, almost touching him. The feeling that she got when she went inside was odd, eerie almost, and nothing like the way that the house in Inferni seemed. It may have been the fact that Inferni's house was lived in and that it smelled differently than this one, but whatever the case, Rachias wasn't to fond of the feelings she got while inside this one. "O..okay." She found herself whispering, though not really intended, and followed along with her brother as he went farther down the hall.
She hadn't noticed the picture until they'd gotten along farther and the sight of it made her stomach flip and twist into knots. It was like their eyes followed along no matter where Rachias went or which way she moved. She turned then, to her brother, and was about to speak about the same moment that he spoke. "Yeah..Can we leave?" Her voice was almost pleading, ears pinned back against her head a bit. She suspected that her brother wouldn't argue about leaving but if he really wanted to stay, she would stay with him.
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Real fear, despite his quick brush with death in the sea, was still a fairly foreign feeling for him. At best, he would find himself uncomfortable or creeped out as had been the case with the strange red wolfess he'd met once in the city. And as was the case now with the portrait of the dead human family watching canines prowl through their abandoned home. He didn't really think he would care too much if people combed through his house after he'd died, but he also thought that he might feel differently when he was older or after he had lived in a house that was more his than his brother's. Trying to shrug the ghostly presence from around him, he nodded and turned around, Yeah, let's find a different place.
The relief was almost immediate when the stepped outside again. The air was cooler and fresher, free of the spirits or whatever else -- dust and mold -- that had filled the house. Maybe the next street? Arkham wasn't sure if all the houses would have the same eerie presence as the one they'd just left, but he hoped not. It would be sad if they were chased from building to building by things they couldn't see. These were all different from the house back home though. Maybe it had been done by wolves, but their house had not been built by people at least. All the same, he'd heard plenty about wolves and coyotes moving into human dwellings, and so what was stopping them? He paused at the corner of the street and turned back, waiting for Rachias to catch up.
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