10-20-2009, 03:24 PM
[html]
Leland nodded as she confirmed she knew where Slay was, but she did not offer to take him there straight away. Instead she offered her home and tea and Leland smiled dully at her kindness. At one time he would have been touched, moved beyond words at the kindness of a stranger. Now he merely accepted it as a fact of this creature, not special and shinning as she might have once appeared to him, just a being who perhaps had more good in her than others did. Yet even if she did, it would not further her, he knew that to be a fact. Nor did he correct her as he once would have; Slay could be his brother, for he was as much as a brother than any of the others. Once, withholding truth would have been akin to lying, now it was merely the way the world functioned, how one got along.
Leland shook his sorry head, his trembling hand extending to her. “Aye, thank you lass but no thanks. I doubt ya have any tea in the world that could help a feller like me.” One warm chocolate eye and one of ice looked over the girl. She was perhaps the kind of female he would have fallen in love with at one time, but now she was only the type he wished to lie to, to trample over. It was how he felt everyone should be treated now, striving to make other feel worse than he himself did. “I get no rest from sleep, no help from food. I’m sick ya see? It won’t leave me, and I can’t leave it. It’s eating away at my insides as we speak.” It was a lie, the first he had ever truly told in his life. The first he had ever been able to tell, and surprisingly it came out smooth and slick, as if he were Leroy and Lysander instead of Leland.
Dully he looked at her, neither ashamed of his lie or the fact he still had not risen. Wearily he dragged himself to his feet, his body shaking as he faced her. More than ever he was weak, the infection from his paws spreading through his body. More than ever he didn’t really care about his physical torment, he just wanted to be released from his own mind, but that… that was not possible. “I’ll come and rest with ya if ya wish it, but then, straight away, ya must take me to see Slay.” Though he knew the male would have nothing to offer him either.
Leland nodded as she confirmed she knew where Slay was, but she did not offer to take him there straight away. Instead she offered her home and tea and Leland smiled dully at her kindness. At one time he would have been touched, moved beyond words at the kindness of a stranger. Now he merely accepted it as a fact of this creature, not special and shinning as she might have once appeared to him, just a being who perhaps had more good in her than others did. Yet even if she did, it would not further her, he knew that to be a fact. Nor did he correct her as he once would have; Slay could be his brother, for he was as much as a brother than any of the others. Once, withholding truth would have been akin to lying, now it was merely the way the world functioned, how one got along.
Leland shook his sorry head, his trembling hand extending to her. “Aye, thank you lass but no thanks. I doubt ya have any tea in the world that could help a feller like me.” One warm chocolate eye and one of ice looked over the girl. She was perhaps the kind of female he would have fallen in love with at one time, but now she was only the type he wished to lie to, to trample over. It was how he felt everyone should be treated now, striving to make other feel worse than he himself did. “I get no rest from sleep, no help from food. I’m sick ya see? It won’t leave me, and I can’t leave it. It’s eating away at my insides as we speak.” It was a lie, the first he had ever truly told in his life. The first he had ever been able to tell, and surprisingly it came out smooth and slick, as if he were Leroy and Lysander instead of Leland.
Dully he looked at her, neither ashamed of his lie or the fact he still had not risen. Wearily he dragged himself to his feet, his body shaking as he faced her. More than ever he was weak, the infection from his paws spreading through his body. More than ever he didn’t really care about his physical torment, he just wanted to be released from his own mind, but that… that was not possible. “I’ll come and rest with ya if ya wish it, but then, straight away, ya must take me to see Slay.” Though he knew the male would have nothing to offer him either.