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She ran her hand through the murky sand, picking up the wet clumps that lingered just below the dry, crumbly surface. A sandcastle was a weird thing to be building in the middle of the Waste, especially as far from the shore as she was, but Talitha Lykoi really had nothing else to do but succumb to her haunting memories yet again. She didn't want to see that face frozen in snarls of ecstasy again while she screamed inside her own head, and so she had distracted herself. She did not hum as she normally would, or pretend her fingers were people walking around the castle; she built it in silence, decorated it with rocks in silence, and kicked it down in silence so she could start over. It was the only bliss she'd found in a while, the only thing that made her feel like she could sleep if she tried, or made her believe she could be hungry again.
In reality, her body wanted to live. She flagged horribly from exhaustion, and her stomach was often on fire from hunger because she only ate when people were watching, not having the appetite for anything else, but that was enough to keep her alive. She clung to life but reached out for death; the two were miles and miles apart, but she could see it in her mind like a passing of a baby from one set of hands to another. She was a baby sucked dry of will and desire. Her hands collapsed delicately around another clump of wet sand, forming it into a ball and moving it to rest delicately on the top of the tower she had just built up not too long ago. Her eyes took in the half rebuilt sandcastle, her mind looking desperately for ways to make it better than it had been before.
She sucked her breath in as she placed her foot gently against the side of it, this time not intent in collapsing it, and allowed her toes to sink easily into the side of the sand. When she removed it, a perfect mold of her young foot remained on the side of the sand castle's wide base. She couldn't smile at her half finished creation, but she could stare at the place her foot had been, knowing she approved but also that she was unable to show it. [/html]
[html] It was very unlike Rachias to be anywhere near Inferni, though curiosity just got the best of her sometimes. She wouldn't near the borders, at least not to the point where she could see them directly, but she would at least wander the lands around them. Even if she was still trying to avoid her family, most of them, she still cared for them, which was why she ever bothered to linger near and check of their scents. As she expected,the scents were as strong as ever. Perhaps, somewhere inside the pits of her stomach, she hoped to pick up Arkham's scent in the mishmash of others, even if she didn't try to get her hopes up about it.
Turning away from the direction she was heading, it wasn't until she faced just off to the side that she spotted him, or what she thought was him. If it weren't for the fact that being in the distance was quite a bit smaller than Gabriel, she would have thought it to be him immediately. Instead, she decided it simply had to be one of his children. Curious and hesitant all at once, Rachias took a few steps forward, testing the air. It had been a long time since she had seen them, they'd been so small then, but she could still clearly tell that it was Talitha sitting there. Hands fidgeted with one another in front of her stomach as she continued forward quietly, arguing with herself about whether to visit or turn and leave as quickly as she had come.
Before she realized it, she was less than a few feet away from the other girl. There was no turning back. "Talitha?" She questioned quietly, leaning forward some to see just what the younger girl was doing.
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Her hands scraped up some more sand and she quietly dumped it on top, all hopes of salvaging the castle she had carefully formed before fleeing. She coiled one of her legs up and kicked out, watching the sand smash down around her leg and feeling its cool caress. It made her shiver; it was too reminiscent. She pulled that leg quickly away from the damp sand and curled it under her once more, safe and dry, before the sound of her name made her jump. Normally she would have looked over at whoever was speaking, curious, but Talitha actually moved; the sound of her name sent a jolt through her body that shot her onto her feet and skipping several metres away from the coyote who spoke.
For half a second the desire the scream welled up her throat and threatened to burst through. For half a second she wanted to get away. But it took that half of that second to realise that this was Rachias, not Andrezej, and she was relieved to know the different. The animalistic fear that lit her eyes was better than the death that usually lingered there, but not a lot better. Her thin tail whipped wildly behind her, but not in calm and content wags; it twitched here and there, showing her agitation as clear as if she wore a glowing sign on her head. But the recognition calmed her just a little bit; she drew her hands to her childish chest and held herself, but didn't make a move toward her aunt, in case it really was Andre in disguise.
R-Rachias? Is that... You? You're back? Did you find Arkham's body? Help me... Save me from your psychopath of a brother... Please. She couldn't voice those thoughts, though; it had taken every bit of control for her to choke out as much as she had said.
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[html] Rachias suspected that she might give the younger female a bit of a surprise, both from her approach and the fact that she had only just returned after being gone for so long, but the reaction that she did receive was far more panicked than she had expected. Rachias practically jumped herself when Talitha jolted to her feet, letting out a small gasp and stumbling away from the fleeing girl. She stopped only a few steps from where she had started, face immediately growing dim and concerned, watching as the girl finally turned and realized who she was. The recognition there, however uneasy it seemed, made the girl happy, but the way that she had been received in the first place brought a deep concern over her.
"It's me Tali.." She spoke suddenly, quiet and soothing, some feeble attempt to reassure her niece. She had come home from an unsuccessful attempt to find her brother or his body, to find that her father was suddenly ill and possibly dying, and now it seemed like something else horrible had happened to yet another member of her family. This caught Rachias hard, despite the fact that she didn't know what happened, if anything. They had been so little when she had seen them, she had been small herself, and they were still young. It didn't seem as if anyone would be allowed a normal childhood.
"Is someone after you Tali?" She asked then, unmoving, not wanting to spook her any more than she already had. What reason would she have to act in such a way if someone wasn't out looking for her? That in itself brought on the questions of who and why.
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Her ears twitched back, pressing lightly against her chocolate-y hair that layered down to her shoulders neatly, as if she actually worked on making it look that way. Fact was that it was naturally straight and fell like that; she really didn't do anything but wake up. The fear in her eyes slowly settled, submerging itself in the dark crimson and bringing all light with it. Her delicate little brow fell down over her eyes in a darker expression, but that was simply because she had reacted so badly to her own aunt. But this aunt was the blood of Andre; did that mean she would understand her brother's screwed up motivation? Maybe the Lykois were just like that, but nobody else she knew was even remotely like that.
Him, she practically hissed, unable to say the name again. It was like some kind of mantra in her mind, and she was afraid she was gonna start chanting it if she said it too often, hiding from her own shadow because she would believe it was the one talking. Y-your brother, Rach, he's gonna come back for me. Which brother? Well, that was a mystery. Arkham was supposedly dead, and Andrezej hadn't been around in forever, so how easy was it to tell which brother? Not at all.
But Rachias knew her siblings better than anyone and she trusted that her aunt could guess right away which one.
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[html] Rachias' expression stayed soft no matter the expression that showed on her niece's face. Her eyes were soft as they settled on Talitha's form, her expression gentle, despite the shadow of concern that washed over her features in those few moments. She was confused and unsure, wondering what had happened to the girl to cause such a reaction. Rachias would possibly find out though, and it would be something that would cause her blood to run cold. Fumbling with thoughts in her head, unable to decide what she should do, the young female finally decided to chance taking a few steps toward her, only to be stopped by the light words that were offered.
"Y-your brother" Rachias froze then, wide-eyed and only suddenly more confused, heart immediately pounding in her chest, thumping so loud that she could hear it. Arkham was the very first thing that came to her mind. She had spent so long searching for him, some sign of his life or death, but she had found nothing. It was likely that he had died, else he would have come to find her, wouldn't her? Her thoughts were swept away quickly though, catching the rest of the words and putting everything together in her head. Arkham would be the last one to ever do something horrible to someone, she held faith in that, but there was another brother who was unaccounted for, one that had been far from her mind for quite a long time now.
"What did he do to you?" It was hard to keep the quiet anger from leaking in to her words, finally taking a moment to take a few steps forward, reaching her arms out toward Talitha. She couldn't image what he might have done, the horrid things that she knew he might be capable of, and that alone drove her urge to comfort the younger female. Whatever it was, Rachias knew that is had been a most foul deed.
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She really didn't want to talk about it. She let herself be pulled into Rachias' comforting embrace, leaning gently into her aunt, but she didn't really want to speak the words on her tongue. They had been asked of her, and politeness fell forefront in her mind, but repeating the words — the fact that she didn't really know how to say what he had done — was not desirable at the moment. She breathed in deeply, her shoulders trembling as her thin body fought against her and made her want to cough as her bruised ribs protested. Maybe she would always be bruised and hurting; it would be the most horrible thing God had ever allowed happen to her.
I-I don't know, she whispered, her tone breaking as tears slid across her bottom eyelid and threatened to overspill. H-he hit me a lot, and then he did... Something... Down by my legs. She didn't know what it was, what to make of it, only that it had been the worst experience she had ever had and it had managed to destroy her so completely. Even that couldn't be explained. A normally oblivious child might not have reacted in a similar fashion, but it wasn't necessarily the rape she was responding to.
It had been the pain, the pain that increased, and the more fists to the back of the head and shoulders and wherever he could reach when she struggled. The blood that his bites had brought out of her fur, which she had washed out while crying to the sounds of her own screams in her head before Haku saw her in the morning. He didn't seem to have noticed that anything had happened to her, which she guessed was all for the better. At least her father didn't think that the Dahlia de Mai wolf had done anything; she had at least needed to clarify it with him. But now that other parties asked, Talitha couldn't really refuse them the answers they sought.
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[html] A small hint of anger burned in her eyes even as she scooped her niece up in her arms, holding her close, though doing so very lightly. She nosed at the top of the girls head for a moment, very small, faint nuzzles, and listened quietly for the words that might answer her questions and give truth to vague fears. Rachias had never been particularly close to anyone but Arkham, not even her own father, who she had tried so hard to be close to when she was younger. Things had changed the moment that she left Inferni in search of her missing brother though. She had come back with the realization that she may have lost him forever, then faced with the fact that her father may be dying as well. Rachias had to find someone to hold on to, to care for, and Talitha had never done a thing to warrant not caring for her.
"You don't have to say anything else." Rachias spoke suddenly, just as the younger girl's words faded off to silence, teeth and eyes clenched tight together. Perhaps it was because she knew Talitha wouldn't want to talk about it, but there was something inside Rachias that made her not want to hear it. Andre had always been a horrid little brat, intent of ruining the lives of anyone that he could, and she had known that for as far back as she could remember. She was foolish to think that he would just wander off and leave them be. Shaking her head softly, even if only to herself, she leaned her head forward and placed her nose against the top of Talitha's head for a moment, chocolate and cream hair spilling over her shoulders. What should she do or say? Rachias had little experience with such things.
Finally, fighting of the feeling that told her to hold on to Talitha and never let her go, she removed the end of her nose from the girls head, pulling back some to look down at her face, fighting away tears of her own. "Did you tell Gabriel?" It was the only thing that she could think of at the time, knowing that if she had, Andre wouldn't last very long. "I'm here if you ever need me, staying in a place called Esper Hollow." She needn't explain more than that, now wasn't the time to consider her own woes. "I will find him and I will make sure he never hurts anyone again." Even if it meant removing all of his limbs from his body.
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She lapsed into silence then, her svelte hands linking together in her lap as she was pulled in by her aunt. She was glad no more questions were being asked about the incident — how she'd love to just block the memory out and pretend it had never happened — but she knew even without everyone's concern, she would be left to listen to her own muted memories in fear. Maybe it would be a lifelong thing; maybe his hoarse voice would echo in her head for the rest of her existence, and she would never truly get away from him. She looked up into the knowing blue eyes of her aunt, hoping some of the reassurance there applied to her mental state.
Yeah, she murmured. She had told Gabriel almost immediately after they had got home from the hostage exchange. She hadn't been able to tell if he'd been more angry than when he first saw her (and likely assumed everything was Haku's fault) or less, but either way, she didn't entirely want to know. She had never seen her father so absolutely livid, and could only imagine if the outcome had been worse. A gentle shiver licked its way slowly up her spine, sending tremors throughout her body; what would he have done if Haku had told him that his daughter had died in Dahlia de Mai?
Okay. Thank you, Rach. Esper Hollow. She had no idea where it was, but it sounded like a nice kind of place. She would find it when she felt well enough to travel that far again, even though she dearly disliked going very far from home. The "again" caught her, however; she'd know Andre was an exile from Inferni, and was her dad's half brother and Rachias' blood brother, but she hadn't known he had hurt anyone else. What did he do before? she whispered, a last question before they likely would part ways. She felt a little better now than she had before, and as she looked at her dilapidated castle with the footprint in the side, she could almost feel the slightest relief radiating through her bones.
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[html] The answer that Talitha gave her was the only bit of information that she needed to know to have some sort of understanding that her brother would likely not be around for much longer. If he were smart he would run away and not return, but the girl had a feeling it wouldn't be that easy. "Esper Hollow is southwest of Inferni, quite a bit a distance away, but even so, you can find me there. I can head back this way to check on you some time, also." She assured her, finding it to be a very difficult thing, trying to find words or ways to comfort someone. It was much easier with her ill father. All it seemed to take was a soothing voice and whatever words that she could find.
"He's tried to kill me before." She answered the question quietly, almost sadly. "Once or twice." At least, from what she could remember. "After I left Inferni to stay with my dad a while, he threatened to kill me, it kind of made me afraid to go back. I think Gabe exiled him shortly after that.." It was actually kind of hard to remember exactly, despite having not been that long ago. The stress from losing Arkham and now possibly her father was proving to weigh in on her in a way she didn't quite expect. She had always believed Andre, that he would one day kill her, but she never would have expected him to do something to someone he really didn't know. She didn't think he knew her well, at the very least.
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You live with Laurel? She perked up almost immediately; she wished she could see the gypsy man who played the banjo. She was even able to smile enough to make it reach her eyes at the sound of that place. She wouldn't forget the man, and she would most definitely visit Esper Hollow when she got the chance to, especially now that she knew Rachias was staying down there as well. I'll visit sometime, y-yeah. I wanna talk to Laurel again too. Infatuation, much?
Even so, the subject turned back to the culprit and she cringed; he had tried to kill her? How had she now disowned him as her brother by then? Talitha lapsed into silence, unable to bring herself to comment on it. At least Gabriel hadn't allowed him to continue living as a clan member. Her life, he had informed her, was meant to have been ended when she was just a newborn; her mother had thwarted the juvenile delinquent then. Now, he was on the loose again and she was older; he would have to think differently, but he too was older and would be able to trap her much better with the experience.
She knew she would have to watch her back.
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[html] One ear slid quickly forward at the mention of Laurel's name, brows suddenly raised in a curious manner. She was quiet a moment, watching her niece through soft blue eyes, before finally bringing herself to speak. "I don't really live with him, just kind of staying there for a bit." She explained, studying the expression on Talitha's face. She seemed to almost light up at the change in conversation, only to be taken back down when Andre came up once more. It made her happy to see the girl smile and, in those few moments that she stood and watched, she realized what might help more. Don't make her talk or think about it, she could only imagine that everyone else was doing that, but perhaps bring a lighter conversation to the table?
"My father is ill and staying there right now, so Laurel let me stay and help watch over him." She explained further, hoping to get their conversation back on the track of Laurel and Esper Hollow, to see just how things might pan out. "Where did you meet Laurel at?" The chocolate and cream haired girl asked quietly, both to keep the conversation on track and because of her own personal curiosity. Laurel was quite the odd character, at least from what she had seen, and that combined with his strange hat made him quite memorable, in her mind.
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Oh. She couldn't imagine her aunt playing instruments with the gypsy band anyway, but it would have been somewhat interesting to her if Rachias could show her how to play. It was wishful, she wouldn't lie, but at the same time she knew it wasn't likely. Her wandering attentions snapped back like a rubber band when the topic shot back to the leader of Esper Hollow, and for a moment she wondered if she was discovered. Not that there was anything to find out.
Who's your dad? If Talitha was intending to go down to Esper Hollow at some point, even though her plans had halted at the word "go", she ought to find Rachias' father and wish him well in his recovery. The severity of everything, of course, bypassed the young Lykoi as easily as if she had been brushed off the shoulder of a human like a bug. She didn't know much of the Lykoi history, and so Laruku was a name she also wouldn't remember or find familiar. That being true, Talitha was likely not going to comprehend the name if it was given to her, but feigning like she knew who he was would help. She would probably know her great half-uncle (is that what he was?) when she saw him.
The question then turned to a slightly brighter memory, one which she hadn't tried to repress in any manner. I was out in the spiderwoods— because she didn't remember the name of them at the moment, —and it started to rain, so I went into this shack that was just kinda there, and he was in there too. The rest, like hiding against his chest and sitting on a couch with him, could be left out. It might be a little creepy to think about.
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