[html]  Fifwy!
Kansas thought about his sister all the time. One would never know it, though, and this placed a nice little ache in his chest that refused to go away. He thought of their time as children. The only time they'd had, really; but that didn't matter. It had shaped him more than most things in his life, because being Firefly's "other half" had taught him what it was to care for someone so deeply. He spent a lot of time piecing their childhood memories back together, recalling bits he'd forgotten so that nothing important was forgotten. And yet he never spent time with the girl.
The day was blustery and cold, the sky bright gray with darker clouds looming in the west. He could smell dampness in the air, and was certain that rain was on its way. He came into Dahlia de Mai by way of Flanders Field, pausing beside the statue of the Virgin. He studied her face, how serenely she watched over the dead. He felt a strange warmth when he looked at her, comforted by her stone hands and sweeping robes. Kansas looked away, out across the field. The town was beyond, but perhaps Firefly might find him here.
He was not shifted; he was most comfortable in his Lupine form. Kansas tilted his muzzle skyward and called for her. When the last note had ended, he started walking slowly through the Field, his ears erect and all other senses alert for his twin sister.
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She lay there on her back with her paws waving lazily in the air as she watched the leaves overhead slowly filtering down through the trees to cast about around her. Her emerald eyes were half closed as she smiled tiredly, the weak sunlight that filtered through the trees made the fur along her belly sparkle in the mid of day while she contemplated actually going about to tend to her duties for the day. She still had all afternoon to patrol the borders and strengthen the pack scent to let intruders know they were here and they were strong and sure of themselves as a pack and individuals. It was such a hard decision, to slack off for one afternoon or to be responsible.
She'd almost decided to just roll over and sun her ribs when the voice on the winds tugged at her hearing. That voice could only belong to the one she'd shared almost everything with, even their heartbeats seemed to pulse together, finishing eachother's sentences and their own little language that everyone had tended to ignore while they were growing up those short moons together. A time she could never return to but a time she could never forget.
She was instantly to her paws and alert as her paws brought her swiftly across the lands and to the one who called. So strange the two twins were, one so light in tone and color they seemed to be made out of the softest light. The other's pelt a rich tone as though they needed every bit of brilliant color to see through the darkness. He was her better half, the calm and clear patience while she was chaos, disorder and thrilling fun. Together there was nothing that they weren't able to do. Firefly's eyes glittered as she came to Flander's Field with her tail held high and a dance in her step, laughter seemed to sing with every motion of her body as she called out in a pouty voice. "You're late."
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He stood still, almost positive he'd detected movement not far off. Sure enough, a mutihued wolf approached; he waited a moment with bated breath until he was certain of who it was. Licking his lips dried by the wind, Kansas felt a warm smile bloom across his face, his ears lowering with the happiness he always felt when his sister was around. Firefly looked well; she was as beautiful as she'd always been, her green eyes bright and mischievous. Kansas would have considered her his better half, taking risks that had probably left her more prepared for life. He assumed she also had more fun - fun that was amplified many times over when they were together.
Her voice was filled with mock-sadness, but he still knew how disappointed she must be. Kansas lifted a paw and batted at her boyishly. His voice was apologetic, but, strangely, he was still grinning from ear to ear. "I know. I don't have any good excuses this time. I'm sorry." When did he ever? He affectionately nipped the soft flesh of her cheek, ending it with a smooth lick. "I miss you... Have you been all right?"
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Firefly had always known how to play off her twin, and when he showed up upon the borders of Dahlia de Mai and was looking for her she was going to let him have it. So long ago it seemed he'd promised they'd raise hell together and wreck havic across the whole world. She smiled as suddenly he pawed at her and spoke up, that magical grin plastered upon his maw as she moved forward, the affection in his greeting made her heart beat faster as mischielf lit her eyes suddeny. She sprang away from the male's soft touch.
Crouched down low to the ground she growled, "No good excuses? Now why don't I believe that?" She laughed as her thick luxurious flag of a tail waved proudly over her back. She tried to ignore the last question he'd asked, knowing she wouldn't tell him the truth, only to see the pain surface in his eyes as he'd blame himself in some strange way. She pawed at the ground as she smiled. "I've missed you to Kansy.." She admitted before those emerald eyes narrowed and she growled playfully again. "But you've got to be taught a lesson!" she cried out as suddenly she pounced towards her twin.
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She did know how to mess with him. He was always left with a slight tinge of guilt, ripped away by the playful and loving glint in her eyes. In all honestly, Kansas was terrible at keeping promises. The fact that he couldn't even hold true to his sister saddened him, but she'd forgive him. He knew for certain that after today, they'd spend more time together. Because the longer he spent away from her, the less content he became. He thought she might feel the same way to some degree, but Firefly had never been as fragile as he was.
As ever, her hasty leap away from him made him feel cold, but her next words warmed him again. He grinned sheepishly, thinking of Savina and wondering if there was any way Firefly could know. He wanted to tell her so badly. "Oh, well, I don't know." He laughed mischievously. Firefly was wise not to inform him of the sorrows in her life, but his lack of knowledge about how she was doing was likely to bother him just the same. He had no time to worry at the moment, because his pretty (and surprisingly strong...) sister was leaping toward him. She barreled into him, and though he could have remained on his feet, he feel over anyway, grabbing her scruff as his hind paws pushed against her underside.
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There was something about the lighter side of the two twins, the one that could make the puppy inside the dark woman come out and play again when no one else ever saw the gentle and kind side of the icy bitch. Somehow no matter how bad she was he was twice as good and the scales always seemed to equal out. She smiled at the male before her as she laughed, Kansas might have been the fragile one when it came to emotions but she was always the one that let those emotions pint up and break her the hard way. She'd been upset when she'd roamed the lands to the edge of his reformed packland and hadn't found the male anywhere in sight. Though she'd met a rather uptight woman from his pack she had never seen before the girl hadn't met her goal and had left a bit disappointed and discouraged.
She was fire and ice to the boy and yet his reply wasn't enough for her as she landed on the male, growling softly as she grinned. Kansas had seized her scruff and was attempted to pummel her belly as she wrapped her legs around his oversized head as she laughed. "I will find out your excuses if I have to tickle them out of you!" Any packmate of her's would have been more than disturbed if they wandered into the field and found the woman rolling and tussling in the grass with some stranger from another pack like they were the best of friends, but then again she hadn't let anyone really in on the fact that she had a twin, which she was fine with, they did know she had sibling after all.
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One thing that never failed to sadden the pale boy was that he really did know next to nothing about Firefly's life. Perhaps she was keeping things from him in order to protect him. But this possibility was about as touching as it was troubling. If she ever needed him, he wouldn't know why or when. They kept to the surface of things, it seemed, always. At least he had her back. Right?
Kansas' attempt to push her off him was foiled when she pressed more of her weight onto him, mercilessly pinning him to the ground. He hadn't played like this in... he didn't know how long. But he loved it. Her forelegs squeezed his neck in just the right places to make him squirm and laugh. "N-no, don't — st —" he sputtered. He'd always been so ticklish. Kansas struggled before finally speaking. "I'm m-met this g-girl..." Anything for her to stop torturing him!
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Her tail thumped hard against the ground as she forgot all about her worries and cares as she took over her reign as the alpha pup once more, making her sibling pay for all the mistakes he'd made over time in laughs and chuckles as she found every tender spot and every little itch. She was his sister and she knew how to make and break the boy, though she would never bring harm to him purposely, she knew all his weaknesses and strengths.. and she wasn't afraid to use them against him!
She laughed in spite of Kansas still having hold of her scruff as she nipped and tickled with paws and muzzle, making the boy squirm and laugh like they were kids again. It seemed that she'd finally pressed him to witts end when he gave in and revealed his secret. Acting shocked she continued to give him hell with a fit of tickles as she yipped, "What! You HAVE replaced me!" She should have realized that her brother would have met a girl.. hell, it seemed the whole of their litter had met someone.. or atleast had some sort of relationship as unhealthy as some of them might have been.. they really were all growing up she realized.
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This could very well have been a moment from their childhood. She was getting the best of him with brutal tickles, and he was laughing so hard he was running out of air. He again pummeled her belly with his hind paws in an attempt to shove her aside, releasing her scruff to gasp for breath. Finally, she paused for just a moment to bark her disappointment at his news, making his chest tighten and then release again as he smiled away his unwanted guilt.
"Nah, I... know you... wouldn't l-let me do that." he said; to his misfortune, she was still managing to find his tenderest of spots and mercilessly squeeze and batter them, so that he closed his eyes and tried to withhold his laughter. "If - you stop, I'll explain m-myself."
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She snarled happily at her sibling as he began to laugh uncontrolably again because of her acts of torment. Her tail wagged excitedly as she felt his paws pelting her belly once more, taking her breath away as she was lost in a fit of laughter as well. The girl shook her head and tugged on an ear as she growled. "Damn right! Nuuh won.. chan replach meh!" Her muffled words barely recognizable as she spat his ear out and sighed at the final pleas of her sibling.
Leaping away before he could catch an upperhand at their game she sat back licking her chest like the cat that caught the canary, the smug smile and sly eyes watching him and waiting. "This better be good.." she warned as she shook her coat out to settle some of her rumpled appearance before trying to straighten the slobberly spots down again.
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The teeth vicously but somehow gently clamped upon his ear and he felt it torn to and fro as she gnawed. His blue eyes widened in mock surprise with her threatening words and he gave one final shot at tossing her aside, snarling. She remained glued in place, leaping from him only when she wanted to. Of course. Kansas rolled onto his side, laughing while at the same time panting for air. He found their tussling so amusing - the affects of her relentless tickling had faded, yet he continued to laugh.
He got to his feet and sighed, glancing over at her. She sat poised like a feline, her stance almost indifferent. As if she were a scolding mother, and no excuse he might try to pull would sway her. "I won't disappoint you." His ears pinned to his skull, he sat closer to her and spoke as she preened. "She's really beautiful. I read her a poem - that's how we met." He gazed hopefully toward his twin, seeking her approval. "Her name is Savina... I can't stop thinking about her." His grin was coy, he kept it to himself as best he could. He was sure Firefly had experienced the feeling of infatuation at least once before, if not many times. "You should come meet her."
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She leaned back and watched her brother with amusement in her eyes. She was rather surprised that he had found a mate, but she figured that with time they'd all end up settled down somehow.. or atleast content in their own lives. She wasn't for certain that taking a mate was the best possible answer to each and every soul out there but to each their own. Her eyes sparkled as she waited for him to catch his breath and regain some sort of composure, seeing how he had all the explaining to do now.
When he got to his feet and moved closer to join her she gave him a slight smile as he tried to assure her that his choice in a mate wouldn't disappoint her. "Isn't mother the one you should be concerned about disappointing?" she teased, knowing that the silver and gold woman fretted over her children so since every partnership she'd been part of had fallen into disaster.. She sat patiently though as her brother moved on, the fire seemed to flicker and strangethen in the boy as he went on. She was silent except for the sly smile on her maw until he asked her to meet the girl. "You're too much the romantic Kansas.." she teased as she shook her head. Her brother had always been the sensitive one, but she was more than amused at his methods of winning the womans heart, straight out of a fairytale.. while she could never believe in such.
She flicked her tail across his paws as she stared off into the distance. Her brother was suggesting something that he himself knew she hardly ever did. She was not one who invited the family over for socials or even kept tabs on where and what they did much of the time. Even DaVinci, Magdalena and her had faded some since leaving the lands of Eire. She raised a brow at him as she sighed. "Alright.. I'll meet her, but only because you asked. You know how I am.." She smiled at him, knowing that he would exploit his powers over her as a twin to get what he wanted.. and though she would rather not, she'd give.. and be nice and polite to the woman of his dreams.
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Kansas, as with his other siblings, was always afraid of seeming too soft to Firefly. He was passive, quiet, and more frightful than any of Phoenix and Iskata's children. If any of them had been born with a mean streak, he would have been the one to bully. Of ocurse, Firefly accepted him, and in fact favored him. But he had the sense that she was better than him in a lot of ways, and should she realize that he knew he'd become more of a disappointment to her.
"I suppose so." Her words, though kind and playful, made him think about this, so that his eyes became shadowed. Firefly wouldn't think to read a poem to an object of her attraction. He was sure she was cleverer, needing only her own seductiveness. He watched his sister with a bit of sadness - she withdrew, just a little, as he would expect her to. She didn't like those sorts of get-togethers; he should have known better than to ask her. But how could he not? It was almost disloyal to Savina to keep her from meeting Firefly, his other favorite girl. He had exerted his convenient advantage in being Firefly's twin, and for this he felt badly. "It doesn't have to be a big thing. Just stop by. Sometime."
His voice was light, without the slightest trace of disappointment. He wasn't disappointed at all. That was Firefly: he knew she'd humor him, but she wouldn't like it. "So... Your turn. What's - what's kept you busy?" An eye for an eye. Perhaps the speedy topic-change would ease her into opening up. Into telling him something, anything, about her world.
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She had never actually cared for the soft emotions of her siblings but Kansas she had her own place and he could do nothing wrong in her eyes. Though she would taunt and tease him and make him think he'd been a disappointment to the fierce woman he could never really do anything wrong. A soft smile was upon her lips as she watched him, waiting to see the next tinge of emotion before it broke away and ran for cover again. There it was once more.. so fleeting yet so sweet as well.
He pleaded with her, though he knew she would just go on and complain, that she would draw it all out and the drama would almost break his heart, yet at the last moment she'd give in and do as he wished. To see the happiness in his eyes was enough to last her a lifetime. She would have killed anyone who might comment on what they could have spied upon thatday but thankfully noone was about in the area yet. "You'd better not leave me hanging about the borders again if I do. You've some rather dull packmates who are a touch too nosy." she said dryly, remembering her time with Anu and her game of a million questions that had driven Firefly's temper near surfacing.
She yawned as though there was nothing more to talk about when he tried to turn the tables on her. She stood up and walked past the male, flicking her tail along his side as she commented as though bored. "There've been others.. trying to take your place.. but I'm not so weak to bend to their wants..yet." Not that Haku had asked or probably ever would. He was content in having his way and tossing her to the side like the ragdoll she was. Flicking her ears back she shrugged as she admitted. "I'm expected to perform my responsiblities and duties to the pack.." she left out the fact that she was the highest ranked packmate below the two leaders.. or the fact that she probably got there because she'd repeatedly slept with the Lilium since the day she'd become a part in the pack. She knew more questions would come.. as she'd intended.
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Deep down, he knew she would do this for him. Just because it was important. It was something he was uncertain about, too - if Firefly didn't like Savina, he didn't know what he'd do. Still love them both, of course. But Kansas was someone who hated awkward circumstances, and he was apt to ignore or even flee from them should they get too difficult.
He shook his head slowly, grinning in something like admiration at her dry tone. "No. I won't...dare... do that to you again." He wondered which of them she had detested. Sadly, the only individuals he knew with any significance were Naniko, Savina, and Lucifer. The others were basically strangers. Had it been Jazper, the boy who seemed to Kansas so agreeable? Or perhaps it was Anu. He could have laughed.
She stood, and his expression become almost bewildered. Did she really not want to tell him anything? Did she not trust him anymore? That more than anything else she'd said today pained him the most. Her words weren't really surprising. It was hard to think of her being with anybody, and he wondered doubtfully if she ever would. "Like what...? Just normal things?" he asked, lamely, following her last words.
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The problem with Firefly was she really didn't like anybody unless she got to know them on her own. She wasn't one of those figures you could put two and two together and they would always make four. She could act polite and generally normal infront of the figure that her brother brought before her but one meeting held little chance that the two women would become best of friends. The closest thing Firefly had to a friend was stuck somewhere between her lover and brother. The woman never made things easy for anyone.
Firefly sat calmly licking at her paw as her sibling seemed to try and convice her that she wouldn't be left in the dark once more. The little grin that played across his lips made her flick an ear at him as she stated firmly. "I'd hope not. Next time I might not be so polite.." So she hadn't exactly been polite in the first place but she hadn't been rude either. She'd just been her strange self like she always was.
She knew that she was taunting her brother and it amused her so. The questions that he used to try and pull the truth out from her made her smile slightly as she turned her emerald eyes to the sibling. "Why? What do they have you do in Crimson Dreams?" She teased, not answering the questions he asked right away. Instead she just yawned a moment before finally giving in and revealing. "I scout the lands, patrol the borders.. but that's just the simple things.." she said innocently, as though she wanted him to beg her for more.
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How she teased. She'd always been like that, but to see her return the same way was interesting to him. Individuals didn't change dramatically from childhood to adulthood. It didn't seem like she'd changed much at all - at least, not toward him. At the same time, he was just getting to know her again, too. It was a strange, unfamiliar feeling.
Firefly didn't seem to believe him. He didn't blame her. Keeping promises was not among his best social skills. He tended to appease others just to fail to follow through. Of course, the youth wasn't thinking about that now; he truly trusted himself not to play keep-away with his sister anymore. Her next words were almost defiant. He chewed his lip subtly. "Same things," was his quiet response. "I just didn't... know if you had anything special to do - more interesting." After all, she wasn't one to lay low, like he did.
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Firefly could tell she was beginning to make him suffer and she knew sooner or later she'd press it too far so she sat down, nudging his rump with one hindleg as her eyes semed to laugh at him. She shook her head with a smirk as she gaze in and admitted her rank. "I guess I should be doing more important things considered I'm one of the highest ranked members of the pack.." She flicked her tail back and forth over his' as she yawned and continued as though it really wasn't important. "Right there under our Rosea and Lilium.. " Her teeth snapped together quickly as she grinned at the boy.
So she'd said it, she'd admitted that though she was a coldhearted bitch she still could summon enough respect and loyalty when needed to get herself promoted near enough to the top of the ranks to live her life the way she wanted, of course within Cercelee's and Haku's likings, but as long as she came when Haku called she doubted there wasn't anything she couldn't get away with with the chocolate hued cousin. Her emerald eyes danced as she waited to see just what that news would bring from Kansas.
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She didn't ever push him to the breaking point. Her smile always saved him, and he hoped it always would. There were times when he did fear she would disappear again. He tried hard not to think this way, but he'd lost Phoenix and Icarus. And he had never been nearly as close to either of them as he was to Firefly. Losing her physically, or (what was worse) emotionally would tear him in half.
Her words brought that proud admiration to his face. Skyblue eyes were bright with calme enthusiam; she did what he'd expect his twin to do. He was envious not of her rank, but of her sureness, her way of getting the things she wanted. But the boy knew he would never understand it. And that was okay. "...That's great... but I'm - I'm not surprised." He nipped her ear. "You'll probably just be running it yourself soon."
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-ooc, end soon?-
Firefly's ear was nipped lovingly by her twin as she gave a hrmf to the words he'd spoken. Shaking the big brute off her she began to try and smooth out her coat as she replied cooly. "What would I have to do to impress you.." she said with a false dramatic sigh. Flitting her emerald orbs to the male she smirked and shook her head as she attacked a paw to return her fur to it's normally glossy state. Rubbing her paw behind her ears she hummed softly to herself and waited.
After a moment she decided that she wasn't going to get any further with cleaning her pelt as she finally decided to offer up her own thoughts on the second half of his comments. With a slight frown she shook her head at the idea of running the pack. "I think Cercelee would avoid death and live forever before leaving the pack to me..." She laughed at the idea, wondering just what would happen to the pack if Cercelee did bite the dust. She grinned darkly and rolled her eyes.
Lifting to her feet and nudging Kansas she sighed and decided that they'd had enough for the day. She wasn't for certain if Haku even knoew her twin but she didn't want the male coming along in a foul mood and Haku being the one to take the brute of his attitude. "You've got a girlie to get to.. and I have to get back to plotting total pack domination.." she said with a tease as she tried to nudge him to his paws.
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