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Talitha de le Poer · 04-28-2011, 01:18 AM

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mall-caps;text-varientmall-caps;">IT'S ONLY cript;">FOREVER, NOT LONG AT ALL

She watched as his golden gaze took in the sight of the replicated mountains that were so different from other pieces she had produced. It would be easy to say Talitha de le Poer took to the macabre with skill — the sight of the Mansion proved that much, with its new mural — but this piece she held to him bore a similar peace as the skull she had recently placed upon their borders. Proof that something in the woman had changed, possibly for the best. She was surprised to see gratitude laced upon his features, speaking her name with a quiet voice and smiling regardless of his sad yellow eyes. Her own face remained lacking, though in what she could not say. Truth be told, Talitha never needed expression. The cursed eyes her mother shared with her told all of the stories of her heart, and as her brother embraced her smaller body, they filled with relief.

Her arms found their way around his torso and she relaxed against him in comfort as he looked upon the painting again. For once, she agreed. Her work was beautiful. "I can still smell the smoke from the fires when I visit them, but it makes me think of home. Or what would have been home." She couldn't truly call it her home anymore, now that it had been turned to ash; all memories of it had faded into the past, lost amongst more recent knowledge she wished she didn't have. A heavy sigh released from her chest. "Father showed me Saint Catherine the other night. He says that lots of the saints suffered when they were alive, isn't that strange? That someone so important to God and living people had to go through so much." She was dancing around the true topic she had yet to come to terms with, worried it would start another argument. Talking about Gabriel, about their faith, was the best way to ignore it. Saint Catherine had touched her in some unknown way as she started to draw similarities with herself and those who now counted themselves amongst the holy. She had no fantastic ideas that she herself would ever be included, but it was comforting to know.

Carefully, she allowed herself to step away from him, placing distance between their bodies as she sought to set things straight with him as she had with Gabriel. "I won't accept them. As family, any of them. And I know you...like them." The collie dog and her children would never be part of the Optio's life, but they were already tied in with her brother. It caused panic that spread through her, yet she had come to accept that Ezekiel was simply different. He had not lived as she had. She couldn't change that. "I know that you like them, but I love you anyways. I know you'd never leave me for them." She sounded so sure, yet her eyes betrayed her, as the crimson surface rippled with insecurity. Gabriel seemed to believe he wouldn't. Talitha's lack of self-confidence caused it to be impossible to believe; why would he stay with his Jenga-tower of a mind twin when he could find a stable family in the healer and her children? One hand rose to rub at her arm as she tried to ignore it. "I've missed you, Zekie."

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