Little Girl

Talitha de le Poer · 01-26-2011, 10:56 PM

[html]

VIVAT INFERNI

Walk . Talk . Think

OOC. 759wc. Set at night, in the Forest of Nod; for Gabriel, because Tali lurves her daddy.

Another night of tossing and turning. In the depths of her mind, all she saw were the golden eyes of her past, strong hands, black fur. A silent murmur in the back of her skull. "I kept my word, didn't I, baby?" Had he? Had he really? It had been so long ago that she couldn't even remember the moments surrounding the touch of the beast, the monstrosity that carried a Lykoi tag. He was no Lykoi. He was nothing, not anymore. Dead. Cold. Rotted away in the remnants time, in the remnants of her salvaged youth. So long ago, and yet so haunting.

Talitha woke in a subtle sweat, delicate fingers grasping the worn fabric of the Halifax blanket as her breath eased itself into a calmer state. Always with nightmares, leaving her superficially ill and wishing she could turn back the clock. Turn it back and stay far from the place where Haku Soul had found her. Far from the place where she had been captured by Andrezej. If only she had stayed with Faolin and Ezekiel when Gabriel had sent them away.

No. She was proud of returning, even if her father had been angry. She wanted to be there, with him, she wanted to prove herself. But had it been worth it? Was serving Inferni really worth the pain it had caused her? If she had simply stayed put, would it have really mattered? A melancholy settled on her shoulders as the answer came into clear view: No. It wouldn't have mattered. But she wanted it to, so badly. She wanted to believe she had been right in leaving the safety of her mother's side to return to the pack. In truth, it had only caused hurt.

She couldn't stay in the room any longer. The despair hung like a thick fog around her, and she couldn't breath. In slow movements, she stood, and in slow steps she left the room itself. Down the stairs, through the hall, out the front of the structure that many called home. The cool air of winter caught in her lungs, causing them to ache in the most pleasant of ways. No light guided her eyes as they scanned the surrounding lands; it was strange for her to be awake at such a late hour, but she had her reasons. And when she awoke, upset and alone, she always returned to the same place. The Forest of Nod lay so near the the manor, providing a haven to the morose de le Poer child. That was what she wished to be in that moment, a child. She wasn't. It was time to grow up, as all children did, and leave the past in the past.

Each step led her closer to the digust resting in her stomach. Deeper, into the depths of the trees, lay a darkness that she could only hope to erase. The border to the territory. The border that marked off where the wolves would have to rest. But there were wolves within. She knew there were, even if it wasn't so much a real one. Blood was blood. Filth was filth. And the beasts had worked their way into her home through use of reproduction. Her crimson eyes, Massacre eyes, gazed solemnly at her hands. Coyote hands. Coyote blood. She wasn't what she wanted to be, but she could only aspire to be rid of the vile birthright offered to her, hidden beneath the more pleasing genetics of Kaena Lykoi.

But Gabriel had bestowed a vile disease in his children.

She screamed, a shrill shriek of rage that was followed by a furious attempt to pummel a tree. She only suceeded in hurting herself, of course, as it didn't lessen the anger that bubbled under her surface. Her perfect, wonderful, handsome father. Tainted just like the rest of them. But it wasn't his fault, no, and he shouldn't be punished by his daughter's prejudice, not for something that was so easy to blame on her grandmother.

Silently, she sat in the snow, tapping her slim fingers against her chest, against the marring scar that rested there. She had missed her home, so badly that it resembled pain to think of it, and now that she was back it was a wonder. A wonder she could stay. Perhaps she'd simply need to get used to it, she mused, gazing into the shadows of the night with the eyes of her mother as she waited for an audience. Someone would come. Someone had to have heard her.

Table code by Kiki

mall-caps;margin:0px;padding:0px;text-align:center;padding-right:3px;line-height:20px;}
.vivatinferni-ft01-walktalk {text-align:center;font-weight:normal;font-size:10px;font-color:#adadad;}
.vivatinferni-ft01-main p {padding:5px;margin:0px;text-indent:15px;}
.vivatinferni-ft01-main b {color:#ac5a10;}
.vivatinferni-ft01-copyright {font-size:9px;text-align:center;margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:8px;}
</style>[/html]

Gabriel de le Poer · 01-27-2011, 01:05 AM

[html]

<3

The overcast night blotted out the stars and made the earth a shadowy, dark place. Gabriel no longer feared the night. As a child he had, but as a child he had feared many things with good reason. He had feared death after seeing his brother ripped asunder. Baneesh no longer came to him in his dreams; nor did the women whose presences had all but been erased from his mind. His focus narrowed to the here and the now, to the things he could touch and feel and change.

Talitha’s miraculous return had not been overlooked by her father. It was only because he had recognized the shade within her that he had given her a wide breadth. Once he had pushed her and she had grown to fear her. The Aquila did not come to her directly, but lingered at a distance and waited. So when he had seen her traveling through the forest like a ghost he had trailed her, a shadow of her own form, a darker beast that had sprung her forth and released her into the world. Her father was a monster, but he loved his family dearly—enough to kill for them. Enough to kill them.

Her scream drew him in quickly, like a fox to a rabbit, but when he found her alone he paused. She did not ask for his help. Then again, she never would need to. Like it or not, they were bound to one another. Pale feet crossed the snow and carried him through the shadows, a raven-brushed beast with fire in his eyes. Gabriel called out to her, slowing. “Talitha?”

Talitha de le Poer · 01-27-2011, 08:22 AM

[html]

372wc.

It was as she had expected, though the participant was not. Someone had appeared. But instead of the ragged body that resembled her uncle, Hybrid, she found Gabriel. Or he found her. She didn't acknowledge his presence at first, still surveying the darkness around her in a calm repose. Time for their reunion. For her to see just how disappointing she had been this year. Leaving, coming back, using Inferni like a disposable home. It wasn't, it was her home. If any other had treated it like she had, she knew she would hate them.

But she didn't hate herself.

"Talitha?" His voice was the cue that she should react. She should be there for him, just like she always wanted to be. Her head turned away from her absent thoughts, eyes calling on his mottled tan coat; she sought for change in him, but there was none. Gabriel de le Poer was the same as she had left him, as he always had been. A comforting thought. It was hard to call her father a coyote, with his size taking the turn of the beasts that sat outside of their lands, but she accepted what he was. His fur was like hers, similar in marking and hue, though darker. She hadn't received his golden eyes, but he hadn't received the blue eyes that Corona wore.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Her voice hadn't left the range of a gentle murmur for months since she left her home in October, a new change in the so different female. So different, but still very much the same, with her fears and dreams. Still an Inferni princess, every inch, and those who said otherwise would suffer her wrath.

She didn't offer him a seat, but she didn't turn him away either, simply returning her eyes to the shadows. She forgot her prior question, spitting out another, one that could only be answered comfortably by her father: "Do you think they still linger here? The dead ones who can't go to Heaven?" Her grasp of religion was limited, and Gabriel was her God, but she recognized death and afterlife and she feared it. To see, once more, the souls of the damned ones from her life.

mall-caps;">Table coding by Sie!
<style>
.tali-o11 .ooc {font-style:italic; }
.tali-o11 p {padding:2px 20px; margin:0px; text-indent:35px;}
.tali-o11 b {color:#FFFFFF; letter-spacing:-.2px; }
.tali-o11 {background-color:#467C94; background-image:url(http://sleepyglow.net/souls/gifts/2010d ... table2.png); background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; border:2px solid #000000; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size:12px; color:#122A34; letter-spacing:.4px; word-spacing:.3px; line-height:16px; width:450px; text-align:justify; padding:270px 0px 10px 0px; }
.tali-o11-border {width:454px; border:1px solid #FFFFFF; margin:0 auto;}
span.copyrightedtali a {font-size:10px;font-family:Georgia;color:black;text-decoration:none;}
</style>[/html]

Gabriel de le Poer · 01-27-2011, 11:31 AM

[html]

+3

She had changed. Gabriel saw change in everyone he had known, and often it was a sudden realization that such a thing had occurred. Kaena’s change had been like that. One day he had looked at her and realized she was old. Not too old, not yet, but old. Old enough. She had been beaten, something he had never imagined he would see in his lifetime. His mother had always been invincible to him. When Haku had proven otherwise, the last part of Gabriel’s childhood had died inside of him. All that remained was this warrior-king who survived only because he lived for this place.

Talitha’s change was similar to his mother’s. Here was a woman that had once been his little girl, chased by monsters he had no power over. He saw shades and shadows around her that were like fuzzy images, things he had no right to know, but he sensed them all the same. In Talitha alone her mother lived—her brother shared only the Lykoi eyes but nothing more. Where Ezekiel was the dawn, here was his twilight daughter burnished in shades of auburn and coal. She was more his shadow than even Gabriel wished to admit; it forced recognition on those who called him enemy. It was why she had been taken.

He said nothing to her inquiry, and did not move from where he stood. It was that second question that made a shadow cross over his face. Like her brother, Talitha had only been taught so much. Gabriel’s place was not to define their faith. It had to be tested by things beyond his control. “No,” he said firmly. “The wicked are cast into the fire. They are made to suffer for eternity, just as those who are good are given peace.” Dual natures in all things. Gabriel believed this as certainly as he believed that his children had been kept safe by the saint around his neck. “Is that why you’re out here?” He pried with certainty, knowing the weight of a Shadow.

Talitha de le Poer · 01-27-2011, 12:17 PM

[html]3+

Inferni was no place to be scared by such silly things as nightmares, and certainly not when one was the daughter of the monster named Gabriel, but even then as she gazed into the depths of Nod, she saw the haunts that followed her. Haku Soul had only been the beginning, leaving her unprotected in the lands of the wolves, within Dahlia de Mai. To this day, she was unable to approach it. Not even for the friendliest of reasons. And all because of a war she simply had to come back to, when she wasn't needed.
Despite the facts, Talitha still told herself she was right to return. She recognized herself as his only daughter, and felt he needed her, though it was clear in the back of her mind that he didn't. He had moved along easily without them by his side. She had simply mucked up the works, caused the death of a Lykoi. The woman had caused more trouble than it was worth.
But Gabriel still loved her for what she was, or so she hoped. Full of mistakes, and broken now, she was still Talitha. Still his daughter. She still bore the de le Poer blood, though she carried the Lykoi name. She was his, and she belonged there, as long as he decided she was worth the trouble. When he passed on, she would remain to carry on in his steps as a strong member of Inferni, if no one else did. She loved him, she feared him, her world only settled with his presence touching it.
And as she expected, he comforted her worn mind. He answered her question of life after death, giving her what she wanted. The sinners would burn, and only the good would be at peace. But where did that leave them? Her father, he was wicked, and she had failed her home so many times in departing. Would they be put to the same fate as the others?
"Is that why you're out here?"
"He won't go away." He. The only name she wasn't willing to speak out loud, her lips unwilling to form the syllables that made up her uncle's name. She knew her father would understand, for he had his own demons, his own haunting ghosts. He had burned their home, leaving ashes in his wake, bringing his family over the mountains. He was the cause of many things, but he was still her saviour.
With a calm hand, she patted the ground beside her, urging him over without words. If she could offer him nothing, he could at least ease her mind, and perhaps she would be able to sleep in comfort once more.

[/html]

Gabriel de le Poer · 01-28-2011, 07:17 AM

[html]

+3

Gabriel had turned his own blood away before, but not without just cause. Those who had left with their backs to Inferni would forever be enemies. He had seen what came of their kind. Two brothers, one dead and the other forever exiled. They had chosen that path, though. A warm breath left another trail of steam in the air as he closed the distance between them, his four legs moving quietly over the pine needles and the snow. While he remained in his lupus form, he still came to her side and leaned against her, a warm body made of sinew and blood that would reassure her of his own existence. Reassure her that he was there to fight for her, if need be.

The coy-wolf breathed in her scent and found, as he had before, that she carried that sharp and acidic scent of alcohol. It clung to her diligently, reminding him that her wounds were not skin deep. He said nothing about this. While it was his place, she was still his little girl, and she was hurting. She needed comfort, not confrontation. “He’s dead,” Gabriel said quietly. At least he could remember the taste of blood in his mouth. “You saw him die, Talitha.”

Vengeance had come three-fold. Anselm and Corona had given Gabriel what he needed to kill the boy, though he would have regardless—even though that knife would have done treacherous work. It didn’t matter. Andre had to die. Gabriel did not allow his enemies to live when he had sworn them to the gallows. Bright eyed in the dark, Gabriel watched her face and sought the shade that she still gave life to. Her Shadow, much like his own, would perhaps always hold some power over her. That was the way of things.

Talitha de le Poer · 01-28-2011, 08:29 AM

[html]3+

The gentle pressure of his body against her own gave her comfort, and as he sat there she reached her hand to his shoulder, to take some of the fur there in a loose grip. He was there, and her ghosts were not, and she knew she would believe him because, if she was a Queen, Gabriel was God. His words were reality while her mind was filled with vague dreams. Andrezej was dead, and she had saw him die. She could remember, she simply didn't want to.
She exhaled a shuddering sigh as the cold seeped into her fur, only then realizing the freezing effect of the snow. Without concern, she settled herself more firmly against her father's side, bringing an arm about his chest in an awkward sort of embrace; as he rarely left the four-legged body she was so familiar with, she was used to modifying typical gestures to suit his body. He was a rock that she clung to in an attempt to stay grounded, and he gave her relief just in presence. One by one, the memories faded, golden eyes disappearing from the Luperci-sized shadows that lurked within the forest. Only Gabriel's remained.
Ruby eyes glossed over with tears, she turned her gaze to the golden-hued sight of the Aquila beside her, offering a somewhat pathetic smile to show him that she was alright, though it was a ruse she hid behind. She was unable to keep the gaze for long, and a brief moment later her eyes diverted to the left, to view the snow atop the ground.
"The dead should simply stay that way, not come back to torment those who have done nothing wrong," she whispered to the air, white clouds forming from her breath. It sounded as though she was being more positive, but she didn't mean herself. She had done wrong, plenty of wrong, and sometimes wondered if she deserved the torment wrought by her uncle's cold hands. In the end, she always said yes. Yes, she did. But Gabriel didn't.

[/html]

Gabriel de le Poer · 01-31-2011, 08:08 PM

[html]

She felt different to him. Older. He realized this was a natural thing, of course, but it still perturbed his senses. That little girl who had come back with fire in her eyes was now a woman running from ghosts. God was cruel. Gabriel thought momentarily of Tayui, of the now-destroyed skull, and thought of his own family. How much they had suffered. Yes, God was cruel—and he had put it to Gabriel to suffer through silently, to watch as he struck out at those whom the black-faced de le Poer cared about most.

Her smile was weak and forced, but Gabriel did not push her. Instead he remained impassive, still and silent. In the dark he realized how much she looked like her mother. “Don’t think about it,” he told her softly. “He can’t hurt you.” This too, was a lie. She needed it, though, and he would lie to protect her. He had done everything else for her after all. “God punishes the wicked. Remember that.”

Talitha de le Poer · 01-31-2011, 11:41 PM

[html]

He remained silent, her solemn statue of subtle comfort in the shadows of the night. While she knew she suffered, she always believed he suffered more; he simply suffered in silence. Her father was not untouched by the troubles of the past, he merely gave a different face than others. He was a leader. He displayed strength in sorrow.
She was undeniably different, unable to stomach the horrors of the past or the torment that her home had undergone, and that was the role of the bottles she scavenged and hoarded in her room within the D'Neville Manor. The substances she indulged in had chased away the ghosts of their history at one point, but their abilities were steadily fading. She could no longer turn her crimson eyes from the haunting golden glow that lingered in the dark corners of her mind, intoxicated or otherwise. Her nightmares didn't fade with the sunrise, and waking did not inhibit their creation. The past that had haunted her was beginning to win, and unlike her father, she could not be so stoic in the face of it.
But she didn't enjoy thinking of it when she didn't have to, and the chosen topic was far more a pleasing thing as Gabriel reassured her of the post-mortem demise of the souls of those who had tormented them in life. Andrezej couldn't hurt her anymore, for God punished the wicked. He was wrong, but she didn't correct him. She needed to hear the words to believe it, for she knew that he was still very much a danger.
God punishes the wicked.
"What about us?"

[/html]

Gabriel de le Poer · 02-02-2011, 07:31 PM

[html]

All men who are born to lead realize that with this destiny is a price. Gabriel shouldered the weight of all those under him; he knew what true leadership was meant to be and he honored such things. He did not speak of his fears or his doubts, he did not allow weakness to be shown. Inferni needed their leader to be an untouchable thing, something that could give them guidance, something that would keep them from being savages. Even after all the things he had seen, Gabriel did not believe that the coyotes he protected and led were anything like the wolves or their terrible natures. Scintilla had proven that. Haku had proven that.

She spoke something aloud and Gabriel heard but the words rolled across his back like rain. His daughter, this little girl who was now a woman, she believed that they were like the monsters he fought. A madman’s grin and fire-blue eyes burned in his mind. Gabriel knew the truth of his Shadow, knew that Haku and he were more brothers than those who shared his blood, knew that there were great evils in the world and great wicked had been done for the sake of pleasure and nothing more. The Devil, as he always had, did not need to guide these hands. He simply supplied ideas, ideas which those who were too weak to comprehend believed to be their own, believed they had become more then men, and it was these ideas that turned into action and caused such suffering.

Another voice spoke to Gabriel. It was not just a voice, but The Voice, His Voice, and the Aquila knew that whatever else he did it was because of that he was chosen. He was the sword, and he did as commanded. She would not understand. So few of them did. “God is cruel,” he said, repeating what he had told the wolf with the scar on her face. “We suffer because that is our test. If we believe in Him, no darkness can touch our souls.” It was too late for the others; Gabriel knew better than to try and save what had been lost.

Talitha de le Poer · 02-02-2011, 08:10 PM

[html]5+

She was sure that her father, strong as he was, understood her fears even if he did not share them. For years, he had been her savior. He had retrieved her from Dahlia de Mai, bringing Firefly Sadira back to Haku Soul in exchange for the mutt he had fathered. He saved her from Andrezej, killing his brother to make right what the Lykoi man had done. Simply with his presence, he kept the ghosts at bay, letting her mind roam freely without fear of the shadowed touch of the now dead male. She was proud to be his daughter, and she was ashamed at the same time, but her love for the Aquila beside her superseded all other emotions. He was Alpha and the Omega, for she knew he could be called Death in his own right, and she was sure no other man could ever hold the same significance.
Words of wisdom crept forth from the lupus muzzle. "God is cruel." Yes, He was. And if they suffered to be tested, was she failing? They shared the same blood, but she was far from the stoic warrior she claimed as her sire. Fate had taken her along a separate route, one unmarked with companionship or true semblances to joy. She was solemn, her childhood lost in the mists of history, and there seemed no way to crawl out of the pit she had been lowered into.
Crimson eyes turned to the canopy, a deep breath entering Talitha's lungs to sting her chest with cool air. "If only mother were here to see what sort of mess her daughter has become," she mused. It had been some time that she adopted the idea that Faolin had simply died, and wouldn't return. Strangely, it was a far easier idea to accept for the earthen-hued Luperci than any other explanation, for who could leave the side of the man she knew as father? Surely the woman from her memories was kept away by the cold hand of death.
Once more her eyes returned to her father's form, appraising and appreciating in silence. He was growing older, just as she was, and just as it was with her, time seemed unsure of what to do with him. She could still see the remnants of the man whom she had once called 'daddy', but they faded into the background of something more. Something all together different. He was handsome, but it was not the same sort of handsome she saw in younger men. History had been harsh, leaving deep impressions that she could only hope to recognize.
Her fingers lingered in his fur for only a moment longer before she pulled herself away, twisting back subtle curls so they lay over her back. "I missed you while I was gone. I think you're all that really brings me back to this place." Her words rang out in the otherwise silent air of the night, bringing about a new thought: when Gabriel was gone, what would she do? If he was all that kept her there, would she remain without him? In silence, she turned the idea over in her head, glancing to the wolfish male infrequently.

[/html]

Gabriel de le Poer · 02-03-2011, 06:30 PM

[html]

+3

A long time ago, another girl that shared his daughter’s name was killed. Her family wept for her, questioned God, and it was His son that came and lay hands on the child, restoring her. Gabriel had not believed such a story would so aptly suit his daughter when she had been born, but now it seemed fitting. A part of her was dead, a part that someone else would need to restore. It could not fall to him. There was too much Shadow within the scarred Aquila to serve as her healer for much longer.

The mention of Faolin made tension seep into Gabriel’s body, though he held in the growl that threatened to break from his throat. He knew she had betrayed him, knew it as certainly as he did that the man with her had been the cause for such a thing. The girl he had fallen in love with had changed. He was at least thankful for their children, for there would be no one else to carry on his line without them. The boys in Crimson Dreams were Anu’s alone—wolves that could never hope to touch Inferni soil.

Age came for him slowly. There were traces of it in his body, but his dark fur had not begun to gray yet. He was edging closer to the sunset of his life, but for now, he was still a man strong and capable of behaving as he did. When he became too old, he would know. Somehow he knew he would know. He breathed out into the night, speaking not of the woman who had no place in this clan. “You’ll always have me. Inferni is as much a part of me as it is of you. Our family made this clan what it is—you will always have a home here.” Even if he died, even if he vanished into the wind, Inferni would live on.

Talitha de le Poer · 02-03-2011, 07:59 PM

[html]3+

Talitha knew that Gabriel spoke the truth on her status within Inferni. He had reformed them, saved them when fire threatened their lives on the other side of the mountains. She had been young, but she could remember the smell of the flames, even if she knew not of what had caused them. It had been Gabriel, her holy manifestation turned father, who had led the old Inferni into their new home within the wastes of Nova Scotia. Her blood ran through the soil, founded and kept by the only parent she retained knowledge of.
Her fingers again found the fur at his shoulder, combing through it with a gentle touch; it was a gesture done for her own comfort, meant to reassure that he still sat there. Often things seemed one way, but turned out to be another. It brought her spirits up knowing that things were as they seemed when it came to the Aquila.
A glaze of tears flooded her crimson eyes as she reflected on what he had done for her, allowing her to leave and return of her own will, without question or trials of worth. He was kind, and he loved her, but she gave nothing back to him for such kindness. She inhaled audibly, pressing her muzzle against the side of his neck for a brief moment. "And I for you. I know you suffer through your ghosts by yourself, but you don't have to. I want to be useful to you." The Lykoi didn't expect much acknowledgment for the words, but she felt better knowing she said them. Others had left him in the past, from Faolin to herself, but she would stay for him now.
"I won't be leaving again. I see now that there's nothing outside of the borders for me; everything I love is here," she continued, letting her eyes close. Her weight pushed back as she dropped into the snow atop the ground. A sense of comfort worked its way into her mind, for the first moment in several days, allowing the appearance of a true smile to form on her muzzle.

[/html]

Gabriel de le Poer · 02-09-2011, 06:35 PM

[html]

Another post or two and we can wrap this up. :]

Chosen as he was, Gabriel had never denied the things he had done. He was the scourge, the sword. God had chosen him. It was his duty to destroy those who would do evil in the world, to cast judgment on those who the Lord could not otherwise touch. He was made in God’s image, half mercy and half retribution. For this reason alone he was given the right to know the Voice, to know what it was to both live and kill and do so without thought of his own mortal soul.

He breathed out into the dark night and looked up to the starry sky. Above them rolled a thousand other worlds, a thousand long gone memories and souls, and Gabriel thought of those lost to him. At least she was here, safe. At least now she would have a chance to heal. “Would you like to come sleep in my cave tonight, Talitha?” He asked, turning back to her. One night would perhaps reassure her enough to help her become stronger again.

Talitha de le Poer · 02-09-2011, 07:04 PM

[html]<3 Cha!

She couldn't deny her idolization of the giant quadruped who sat beside her, and a desire to be like him. Perfect and flawed, just and cruel. So much stronger than any other man she had come into contact with, like some angel of judgment who came to them from the Almighty. Her father, who had been hurt by so many others and had still kept his steady heart. It was a wonder to the Lykoi woman.

A russet ear twitched at his offer, her mind returning to childhood. To a home filled with a brother and a mother and her father, different back then than he was now. She could vaguely remember scenes above the ocean, hunting invisible buffalo, trying to be like him. His princess, taking joy in her youth, a youth long gone now as she passed through her adult years in silence and loneliness.

She offered a smile, subtle and possibly fake. "You wouldn't mind? I don't want to intrude." Her eyes turned to him from her place on the ground, focusing on what she could see in the darkness. The tip of an ear, his tail, the outline of his shoulder. Enough to send the ghosts running, afraid of what he would do to them a second time.

[/html]

Gabriel de le Poer · 02-13-2011, 09:12 AM

[html]

There was both light and Shadow within Gabriel, though he hid this later face for his enemies alone. Even the Lord on High had his uses for scourge and for the horde, for pestilence and death. Gabriel’s God was a wrathful one as well as merciful, and so the hybrid existed within the same dichotomy. His time was twilight, his season fall, his place of existence between two extremes that found temporary balance within a frame built for the winter’s wolf, echoing summer’s coyote shades if only darker, stained by blood and by soot. Even his pelt told the story of what he was, just like the scars so few understood.

In the darkness the beast that was her father smiled. “You’ll always have a place in my home.” Double-meanings, words that seemed far too intelligent for such a brute. More dichotomy, more helixes of philosophy and war riddled throughout his genetic makeup. He had split these between a daughter and son, given one the chance to learn and to know while the other chased after demons that had done him wrong. The Aquila rose to his feet and made his way west, traveling through the dark forest the way he had come. She followed him, a russet shadow that belonged to her mother’s blood, and in the silence that followed they closed the distance between them and his home. It had once been her own, and he was relieved to see she relaxed upon entering. Gabriel still slept in the large family room they had once shared, and settled on the pile of furs and dry grass that made up his bed.

Talitha de le Poer · 02-13-2011, 11:42 AM

[html]

3+

The night didn't seem so cold with her father, or so dark. It was like she was a little girl once more, a princess who had the world before her, without fear of anything. It only lasted a moment, but it was a nice thought. She was safe within the territory of Inferni. No one could find her there, or take her, or hurt her. She was surrounded by family that wouldn't allow it. There was nothing to fear in the coyote kingdom, since Andrezej was dead and Haku was gone. There was no war.

She shook her head, russet locks tossing around in charming disarray, before standing to follow Gabriel to the west. For a brief moment, she felt out of place, standing on two legs while he walked with four. She contemplated changing to match him, but simply continued on. As they neared the area that held caves turned into homes, she let herself slip from her preferred bipedal stance into the smaller coyote body she had been born in. She marveled some as her fingers closed in, becoming petite paws that carried an equally petite torso across the ground. Long legs contracted, losing mass, and her curls dispersed throughout the rest of her russet fur.

Her stress was eased as her paws took her into the large home that belonged to him. It had once been hers, and Faolin's, and Ezekiel's. Their home, long since used by only the old man who settled himself onto the pile of fur and grass her slept on. Crimson eyes scanned the room, surveying it out of nostalgia. Unlike the rest of the lands, there were no true memories that she could remember within the den. She could remember the smells of the fires, but she couldn't remember sleeping beside her mother or waking up to the sounds of Gabriel's movements. She blinked once, sighing softly as she took a place near the edge of her father's bedding, feeling that it would do her well not to mention that she couldn't remember the more pleasant moments of her life.

[/html]

Login




Remember me Lost Password?