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Lucia Marino · 04-26-2012, 04:43 PM

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sisterly fun times, oh my!

Renato was altogether surprised that that the Marino woman had chosen to bring them there all on their own. She’d dismissed him pretty quickly when he’d first suggested they search around her old home for clues, and the subject had been avoided since. There wouldn’t be anything there to find, she’d insisted. The petite girl had been the last of her family to remain there before the Valley disbanded altogether. And that chance encounter with her sibling on the shore further cemented the fact that returning to her birthplace would be a pointless exercise. Those she sought were here alright, but to find them, the pair would have to go east to the mountains, not making their way through these long abandoned lands. So why were they there?

Lucia herself wasn’t even sure. It would be easy for her to brush it off as giving in to Ren’s desire to take a look around at the place she’d grown up, but the fisherman had been blessedly silent about the whole thing since they’d run into Rio. She should be thankful for that at least.

Regardless of the reason, the pair of canines made their way through what had once been Valley territory. There was a vague sense of familiarity about the lands, but Lucia wasn’t sure if she was just imagining that until they came upon the still surface of the lake. That she remembered. She had spent much time fooling around near the water’s side as a pup with her siblings and Xeris’s children. Before everyone had left.

The Marino woman glanced around, searching both the horizon and her memories for some hint of where to go next. On the southern side of the lakeshore she spotted a small outcropping of rocks, and if she remembered correctly, the cabin her family had once claimed would be a straight shot away from there.

Ren had settled himself down beside the water, though those blue eyes of his were locked onto Lucia. She glanced down at him for a moment, as if debating what to do, before shrugging her bag and guitar case from her shoulders and leaving them beside him. “I’ll be right back,” she said, turning to make her way south before Renato even had a chance to respond. The fisherman shrugged, leaving her to her own devices. He was lucky that she’d come here of her own accord; he wasn’t about to push his luck now.

It wasn’t long at all before Lucia spotted the familiar cabin on the horizon. It was looking a little worse for wear, but still standing at least. She frowned as she made her way towards it. Here come the memories, the damn things.

Caprica D'Angelo · 04-29-2012, 05:01 PM

Perhaps it should have been a sense of fond reminiscence that brought Caprica to her ancestral home, but instead melancholia came fast on the heels of frustration untold. The woman rode with little of her previous exuberance. A boisterous puppy had become a flamboyant and outspoken adult, but too often lately this had translated into snappishness and a lousy attitude. She rode to brush off the pain of being so near and yet so far from everything she'd ever wanted: for the breathing room. When she came to the abandoned place though, Caprica simply stared at it. Somehow in her mind this had represented an escape, a place in her memory where there was a vestige of happiness and peace: a place she'd thought she could go back to. But here it was, empty and she didn't feel like she was recapturing anything. She didn't feel anything. It was nothing to her. Memories there were, but only ones that the remembering was more painful than the forgetting: her sisters and brother - one lost, the other two caught in a vicious circle of love and violence that had left one dead and the other damaged beyond Caprica's power to repair.

She tied the horse to an ancient fencepost, smoothed down her hair and moved to the doorway. Peering inside, she saw nothing but desolation. She tilted her head over her shoulder. "Desirable residence number one - you payin' attention, Rohan? - a dusty wooden shack with -" she coughed, "a musty sorta smell, and cobwebs in the rafters. Stables: zero... y'know, I don't think there's anythin' for us here, after all." She moved back to the mare, pulling her a tuft of grass as she went. "Guess we should go back to the caves and our life of luxury. This place ain't even fit for a vacation." She ruffled the mare's ears. "You think anyone will notice we ran away?" Caprica sighed, knowing they wouldn't. They'd assume she was out hunting, patrolling or sourcing timber for her wood-craft. No one spent enough time around her to notice the extra-long departure. The thought was irritating. She wondered if she could drag the time out in any way to heighten the chances of being missed. A thought struck her: heading back inside, she poked around until she found a broken old chair leg in a nice light-coloured pine. Then she moved to a window, and propping herself on the narrow sill with one knee sticking through the empty glass-less pane, she began to whittle with her craft knife. Something to remind her of the place, or something to leave her in memory of herself... which, she was not yet sure.

Lucia Marino · 05-14-2012, 07:48 PM

Sorry. It seems my 'Souls muse is as woefully low as ever.

Distraction came fast on the heels of those memories, thankfully pushing them back into the corner of her mind that they'd come from. She wasn't alone here, the first sign coming at the sight of the horse tied to the post. Wasn't that just wonderful. Of course she couldn't be afforded the luxury of reminiscing on her own. Her father would ingratiatingly claim that it was the work of Fate. Lucia didn't exactly buy into that, but either way, things weren't going the way she wanted. But really, she'd thrown that away the second she agreed to come out here with Ren.

She could turn back. Return to the lake and ignore the questions that Renato would inevitably toss her way. It would be such an easy thing to do. But no, she would stick to her stubborn nature. She had come all the way out here with the intention of visiting her old home, and she wouldn't turn back now. That would mean returning another day, and that just wasn't in the cards. She'd nearly had her fill of the place already. So Lucia continued toward the ramshackle cabin at a steady pace, making note of the canine scent that accompanied the horse.

She realized then that she recognized the scent. Honestly, it shouldn't have come as a surprise, considering what Rio had told her and where she was standing. There wouldn't be many people she'd be able to recognize that would bother to come waste time at this abandoned old building.

A noise, almost familiar in its rhythm, brought her along the side of the cabin, toward one of the windows. "Well," she began, stepping into view, "it seems I've found another wayward sibling." Jade eyes coolly studied the dark form of her sister. It had been ages, but there was no mistaking that it was Caprica.

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