you're yesterday's child to me

[Jefferson Soul]

[html]

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g210/ ... parrow.png);background-position:bottom;background-repeat:no-repeat;"> Should we predate this? wc405 -- A leader. How had that happened? Well, he knew how it happened, just recalling the reasoning was nothing he wanted to think about. Jefferson had never wanted to lead anybody in his life--didn't people know he would rather sit back and give direction from the sidelines only if he had to? The circumstances were dire; there wasn't exactly a plausible reason for him to refuse the position. She'd been attacked by a bear; he'd seen the gore and aftermath with his own eye and carried her himself to safety. He'd been there the whole time... it was not as if he could simply cloud out the memory and pretend it never happened. But a leader? He was a loner! Didn't they see all of his scars? For now, despite the new title and "power", he supposed, the brute secluded himself from the rest of the pack. For a little while, he wanted nothing to do with them. Jefferson knew it was better off; Lucifer in a leadership position made him cringe, and Pendzez was nowhere near mature enough or had the charisma. The white-furred yearling had hardly any knowledge of managing much of anything; Jefferson had heard how he'd wandered onto other pack lands carelessly quite a few times. That was about the last thing they needed in a leader. Sigh. Jefferson could do it. The hybrid supposed that it was better use of his time than wandering the borders or watching the pack hunts. He supposed Lucifer would have to listen to him now. He supposed he had the power to punt Lucifer if he darn well pleased, but the last thing he wanted was Deuce pissed off at him again. He swept that concept off as quickly as possible. The creature reclined lazily before the fireplace in the den of the ranch, having managed to spark a small flame with one hand (it had taken some time, obviously) before he pulled up a chair before the fire and leaned onto his knee, staring intently into the flames. His mind wandered; his eye thinned. The snow that lined the floor from the doorway was quickly melting and the room warmed comfortably. Funny, how convenient the ranch was--he'd spent his first few weeks in the pack dozing among the livestock who found him harmless due to his handicap, and now, he stayed inside as a leader needing withdrawal. So much had happened... he could only wonder why.

[/html]

[Iskata Sadira]

It seemed that Skylar had taken to becoming her grandmother's eyes, as she wasn't very good at keeping the woman from sitting around all day and staying still. She watched to make certain that the older Sadira didn't press herself too hard when she was out and about hobbling on the grounds, but she didn't say anything otherwise when her grandmother took to her paws and began to move off the porch of her little cottage and slowly dragging her useless hindleg began to move towards the road. Skylar hopped down quickly and joined the woman, flicking her tail across the once Matriarch's shoulder to let her know she was there as the two made their way wherever Iskata was on such a mindset to visit.

The silver and gold woman didn't want the steele child by her side, she didn't want the guidance or to be shown that she couldn't do these simple things on her own but she didn't push her away, not yet. Her old paws knew these lands better than anyone else and she could stay to the main paths and have no worries unless she stumbled into a snowbank, and that could be taken care of in time as well. A soft sigh escaped her lips as she moved along the fence rail towards the three moons ranch. The sound of the cattle grazing met her ears, she wondered who had been setting out the fodder for the animals with her out of the shuffle. She wondered a lot of things nowadays but it hurt too much to ask out loud and be reminded of what wasn't a constant in her sorry excuse for existance anymore.

The flick of Skylar's tail announced that she was drifting slightly towards something or another and Iskata turned closer to the edge of the dirt road, knowing that a few feet before her she'd move onto the drive of the ranch and towards the barn. She wanted everyone to go away and the barn had been one of her great getaways, though even the barn held a stab of pain, no longer could she climb to the hayloft or out onto the roof to gaze at the world beyond. While she wistfully was thinking of what all she'd lost her paws had slowly drawn her to the middle of the yard where she just stood, her sightless eyes turned towards the barn while her nose told her the fire burned warm and cheery in the home.

The sharp scent of smoke made her nose twitch as the acid in the air burned at her eyes, making the tender wounds water as she closed them quickly, as though she could stop the already inflicted wounds from happening all over again. She could hear Skylar shuffle beside her as the elder stood on snowy ground with the wind buffering her pelt but made no choice.. she dropped her head down in defeat and made to turn, as though this was the wrong choice and she was going to start all over again.

[Jefferson Soul]

[html]

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g210/ ... parrow.png);background-position:bottom;background-repeat:no-repeat;"> wc425 -- The brute's mind wandered in all directions, from his first few steps on Phoenix Valley lands, to lecturing Pendzez, to staring uncomfortably at Cercelee in the rain, to meeting his half-sibling Haku and his non-sibling Laruku. To teaching Tyrone how to fish, to snapping at Lucifer, to making peace with Deuce. ...To carrying Iskata's bleeding, beaten body to safety and worrying what might happen. To here, to now. Months had become a whirlwind and a blur, forever moving and never stopping; it was times like these when he was able to retreat away from the world that he found the time to relax and simply think--he hadn't had chance to stop and muse and explore things in his mind anymore, for all his decisions now were made impulsively. He had no choice. He'd allowed Kasch Anubi to join them in Phoenix Valley off impulse and because he was a child with nowhere else to go. Jefferson had known that feeling once. Somehow, he assumed Iskata was feeling the same way. It was a small movement in the window that stirred his eye from the burning embers of the hearth, at which point his green-hued vision laid upon the stumbling ex-leader and her granddaughter out in the snow in his direct line of vision. His ears perked, his back straightened. "The hell...?" he muttered to himself busily and quickly pushed himself to his feet and out the door, grabbing a blanket left idly on the floor near the exit. He stepped out quickly into the snow, grateful that he was shifted and able to move faster. "What are you doing out here?" He said as he neared her and Skylar, quickly draping the blanket one-handedly over Iskata's shoulder and placing a hand on her back to direct her towards the door. "It's goddamn freezing out here. There's a fire going inside." He sighed to himself, scowling the same old scowl, and nodded to Skylar when she held the door open and he pushed the sightless woman inside where the warmth overwhelmed. He was aware that she was probably on her way to the barn, little by little, where she could hide away... at that, he sniffed and scratched at his head before leading her to his chair by the fire. "The barn's not any warmer than it is outside right now," he remarked. "The temperature's below zero. Why are you out walking around in the cold?" He stood before her, casting a sarcastically suspicious look at Skylar for allowing it, before returning his gaze to Iskata.

[/html]

[Iskata Sadira]

It seemed suddenly that the two were not alone as she heard the slam of the door behind the hybrid, her ears turned towards him as she rose shakily to her legs again and tried to start up to make her escape from the lawman. Too late it seemed as she heard his voice and felt the touch of the blanket across her back and the steady hand on the small of her back. She would have snarled if she hadn't known who it was, instead she turned those ruined orbs to glare at the male as he began to force her to turn off her path and towards the damnable farmhouse. She hadn't wanted to go to the house, she'd wanted to go to the barn, to be away from them all. She was tired of being coddled and cooed over. She wasn't going to get and better and she knew it. Iskata might not be fine with the fact but she had to deal. "Jefferson, I'm not dead yet.." she said icily as she gave in, not like she would have been aloud otherwise and followed the pressure of his hand as she was led tail between her legs back to the comforts and warmths of security.

She knew that he probably had berated Skylar as well so she figured she might as well get her licks in before he dug in as well. "Don't you dare blame her either.. " she growled. Skylar was atleast kind enough not to argue with the woman while everyone else treated her like she was a baby who didn't understand the rules. Damn it she was still the Matriarch and she had duties to perform. When he'd settled her down beside the fire she stared into the flames unseeing as though they could steal her soul away. The words he asked seemed distant as she was quiet for so long it was like she hadn't heard what he had asked, yet she was just thinking. "I was doing what is expected of me.." she said frankly. She figured that he wouldn't really care whatever the excuse she gave him, he knew it was just that, a stupid excuse.

[Jefferson Soul]

[html]

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g210/ ... parrow.png);background-position:bottom;background-repeat:no-repeat;"> wc215 --- A sigh escaped his lips yet again and he ran his good hand through the hair-like fur at the top of his head before he witlessly scratched at the back of his neck and searched for a proper reply. It wasn't that Iskata was out of her right mind; no, it would take far more than a bear attack to do that... or, so he had thought. The ex-Matriarch had endured quite a number of trials and tribulations throughout her life; her children, her mate leaving, running the pack, and now the loss of her sight and dignity... Jefferson almost assumed he could understand her fully, but the truth was, he didn't. She was the only one who could set herself straight. "I didn't expect you to be out there," he muttered, beginning to pace the room. What was he supposed to say? Eye meandering the room in search for explanations, his tongue continued on. "You just got through something traumatic. You haven't even given yourself time to rest yet." Both words and feet paused then, and his gaze shifted back to her, although there was no way she could tell. "I'm not saying that you can't continue your job... but you haven't even stopped to breathe. Deuce and I can handle things until then..."

[/html]

[Iskata Sadira]

She felt like a child being scowled and perhaps she was. There was nothing she could do or say to make the male not speak his mind, and that was mostly her fault, a vivid memory of tell the male to never fear telling her the truth. She would have smirked at the thought if there was actually anything funny about the fact, but this was not a time for any warped sense of humor. Even if she could manage it she'd probably become even more bitter than she already felt afterwards. She just sat there with the blanket he'd wrapped around her staring at nothing as the words came, his excuse or whatever it might be.

When the words began to flow and the sound of his pacing feet on the boards of the ranch she felt her heckles raise with annoyance at what she was hearing. She knew they had a right to worry for her, even when she would not but she didn't wish to be reminded of what she failed so miseribly at. "How can I see what I'm worth if no one will give me the chance to try.." she replied darkly as her wounded orbs sought the direction from which the male was standing. She felt so helpless even now trying to argue with something she couldn't see. Blind faith wasn't something she had and she didn't even want to attempt to find it now.. faith had never been a strong suit for her.

[Jefferson Soul]

[html]

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g210/ ... itable.png);background-position:bottom;background-repeat:no-repeat;"> -- Jefferson sighed. He'd always hoped it wouldn't come to this after the accident--that he had to be the consultant, and she was the one needing the consulting. He was suddenly reminded of when he had sought her out shortly after hearing of his name and past from Laruku; she had comforted him then, set him on the right track, sent him on his way more confidently than he had entered. He hadn't realized it right away, how much she meant to him as a leader, and the brute was desperately trying to avoid noticing the daggers being stabbed at his heart again and again each time she spoke. Her tone of voice, her aura, her expressions were like the knives being twisted, and her sighs made him scowl differently than he had before. He wasn't sure Skylar noticed as she began to wander the area, suddenly feeling dismissed by the two opposing adults and their conversation that was evidently over her head. "Don't get sappy. We all know how much you're worth already," he pleaded with her gruffly, though his tone was no different than before. If it hadn't been obvious before, showing little emotion was one of Jefferson's faults. "You've been running this pack for far too long for nobody to notice yet. Give me a break." He straightened his back as new thoughts flowed into his head, and his voice grew rough. "You think losing your sight makes you worthless now, like you can't do a damn thing anymore. Then how the hell did I get this far missing a goddamn eye?!"

[/html]

[Iskata Sadira]

The smaller version of her father never liked when the adults argued and she'd always made herself as scarce as possible when it started, today was no different. Skylar had moved on towards the barn, leaivng the bitter voices beyond her as she went to tend to the chores her grandmother had seemingly wanted to work on. She shook her head at the gruff male and her stubborn grandmother, there was a lot to do and if they kept this up she'd have it all done before they were even finished.

Iskata turned away from the male as she growled softly. She knew he was being honest and she'd respected the male so much more for that honestly but she didn't want him to waste it on her. She wanted to do so many things and yet every step of the way now she was held back by one thing or another. The woman knew she had said things she shouldn't have to the one male who actually knew some bit of how she felt but when she snapped her head across to gaze at the male with those scarred and sightless orbs she had little compassion for his own pain. "You can still see the world around you. You'll get to watch my baby grow, you still have something to see." She knew she was being childish in her excuses, but it wasn't what she would miss that was the point, it was what couldn't miss her, in the darkness of her new world and the darkness of her dreams.

Her whole mannerism fell as she whispered harshly. "I'm afraid.."

[Jefferson Soul]

[html]

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g210/ ... itable.png);background-position:bottom;background-repeat:no-repeat;"> -- "Iskata," he said, his voice dropping down to a normal level. His tone was suddenly sympathetic, having lost the confused ferocity that had rang through before. He knew that nothing was working and that most likely, all of his efforts to reassure her and put her back on her pedestal would prove worthless. At least he was trying to believe that not all was hopeless. "I've dealt with only having one eye for years. I can still see, but the limited vision is as disorienting as being completely blind." He sighed. Somehow, the urge to keep trying to open her eyes (so to say) insisted. "I can see, but I can't hunt with this leg. I couldn't raise kids with only one arm. I had to retrain myself how to fight because I knew I had to keep going..." and you know how strong I am, he wanted to say. He sighed, straightening his back as he stepped back over to the window. Her excuses were plausible, understandable, but Jefferson didn't want to believe them. His single green eye gazed out the window a long moment, cold and indifferent. "When you lose an eye," he said slowly, "you don't just keep seeing the world. Everything changes color. Everything loses its spark. You start seeing a different world from what's real. It's complete blindness either way." He scowled and turned to face her again, though his vision focused on the fire in the hearth instead. In this condition, he couldn't stand to even look at how weak she'd suddenly become. "Your family and the pack is still here. You don't have to be afraid. That hasn't changed."

[/html]

[Iskata Sadira]

She knew it was a losing arguement with Jefferson, he would always have some small stupid positive thing to come back with. She flicked her tattered ears back against her skull as he went on and on with the positive things she still had to live for, the life that was still shining around her.. and yet it didn't have the effect that she knew he wished it would. All the glorious things that she'd never see again, all those things that she knew was there and yet she didn't know how close or how far. She lowered her body to lay beside the harth as she shook her head sadly.

Her voice was choked as she tried to explain it. "I know what's here.. but what happens when they begin to fade away.." Her greatest fear in her mind was the moment she began to forget what her world looked like. The faces of friends and family, the view from her backporch.. the glory of the sun rising over the ocean and the world from atop the barn's roof. So many things she could never witness again and so quickly she knew they would disapear from her mind. She didn't want to be the one to wait and see how long it would take before time stole it all away.

[Jefferson Soul]

[html]

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g210/ ... itable.png);background-position:bottom;background-repeat:no-repeat;"> Lifehouse's Storm. If you've never heard the song... listen to it. Very pretty song. He did not turn back to her just then, standing where the window waited for him and his eye traveled miles away, gazing out into the emptiness of the white, snowswept field of cold and lifelessness out beyond what he could see. There was nothing there but snow and wind, sweeping at the earth ever so slowly in the prime of its season. It was bleak, it was frightening. She'd said she was afraid, before; what had he done? He'd just told her things were okay. The heartless cyclops hadn't stepped to her and embraced her, hadn't smiled at her, hadn't removed that cold frost in his voice that was always there. He didn't know what she had expected out of him when she'd placed him as subleader. He didn't have any potential. Jefferson had some morals, some maturity, a whole lot of experience... but he couldn't lead anything. Not like Iskata had done. His heart lurched. His mind spun. He couldn't think straight. He was singing. "How long have I been in this storm So overwhelmed by the ocean's shapeless form Water's getting harder to tread With these waves crashing over my head If I could just see you Everything will be alright If I'd see you The storminess will turn to light. And I will walk on water And you will catch me if I fall And I will get lost into your eyes And everything will be alright And everything will be alright..." His voice had fallen into a whisper by its end, when he first realized what he was doing, and his eye suddenly lifted from its daze as it stared out into the snow. He had a soft side. ...At least Iskata had already known that. He couldn't find words to express what had happened thereafter, but what was said was self-explanatory... for her, not for he. She was the one drowning, the one who needed catching. She couldn't see him, no. But she knew he was there. And everything would be all right...

[/html]

[Iskata Sadira]

The silver and gold woman had always had a way of knowing, she'd spent so much time watching her packmates and noticing traits and habits that they had, things they probably didn't even know they posessed. She'd smiled at watching them work and perform their duties and yet secretly she'd been planning things for the small pack that she loved and yet before she'd finished paiting the visions she'd had the artist had lost her canvas, she'd lost her eyes and the dream. Silence seemed to be enough for her now and she would belong to the silence.

Her head had been bent down as she'd been thinking on the so recent past and the dreams she had when suddenly out of nowhere it seemed that a voice had lifted up. The words seemed to tug at her heart and soul as tears stained her cheeks from sightless orbs. She lifted her head slowly as she turned her face towards the male that would oneday take her place. The pain and torment that was made by another but strenthened by her own stubbornness couldn't be undone unless she found the courage to start again.. but it had been too long since she'd had to start all over from that first step and she didn't want to try and remember how.

Her tattered ears flicked back against her skull as she whispered sadly. "Thank you Jeffers..." Her voice soft as she wished there was something more she could say, yet wishing that she never had to have said those words the first time.

[Jefferson Soul]

[html]

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g210/ ... itable.png);background-position:bottom;background-repeat:no-repeat;"> -- He didn't know what else he was supposed to say to her. Things weren't going to be all right; he couldn't say that and mean. She wasn't going to bounce back from it. Her smile had changed completely, if it still even existed. Was it still in there somewhere? Hell, he didn't know. It was taking his all to not be so tired in trying. Jefferson was a fighter, wasn't he? He'd known fighting over persuasion and alliances for a majority of his life (or what he could remember of it, anyway), and now, he was almost helpless. What was he supposed to say? The creature was already flustered enough. That vulnerability, that flaw in his character had exploded out for her to see. He was... ashamed. "Don't speak of this," he said gruffly, but a pause spanned thereafter. "But... I meant it what I said." (Sang.) "Nothing's going to happen if you don't make it happen or let it. Right now, you're doing neither." He frowned, eye pointing bitterly out the window. "I don't know what you're expecting out of the world right now," he said. Other than for it to feel bad for her, evidently.

[/html]

[Iskata Sadira]

The scent of Jefferson was all around her, and though she could tell by sound exactly where he was she still knew she would never feel that was enough. Iskata stood there with her eyes closed, knowing it didn't matter anymore if they were open or shut it was all the same, except for the once more gruff voice of Jefferson there was little in her world at the moment it was alright because the words he'd give her was all that was on her mind. "I just.. want to figure out where I belong now.." she whispered softly.

The woman turned her face away, her breath rapid as she tried to get her emotions under control ago once more. Swollowing hard she tried again, to explain, to find the words, but all there was was leftovers. "..or how I belong." She shook her head as she sighed. Turning her face towards the frame of the male she gave him the words again that she'd never spoken but were obviously true. "You're more of a friend than I deserve Jefferson." While she could expect her children to be upset at what had happened to her the gruff male didn't have to show emotion one way or another.. and yet he had. He'd shared something with her that obviously no one else had yet been given and it touched her. She knew that emotion was wasted on the male but she'd still let the words fall.

[Jefferson Soul]

[html]

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g210/ ... itable.png);background-position:bottom;background-repeat:no-repeat;"> -- He knew she had taken what he'd said to heart, and he knew he hadn't been required to be so forward and blunt with her, but had done so anyway. Needless to say, Jefferson had slowly begun to care, and although he didn't want it to, it had started to make something of an impact on him. He could see himself in her, sort of wallowing and dying away in their own misery... Jefferson hadn't been consciously miserable when he'd been alone. He hadn't know anything more than life as a loner, living like killing and feasting were all that life was meant for. The brute hadn't known companionship, friendship, dependence... he'd never thought of anything more than being by his lonesome. He'd been fine. The cyclops could have deserted everything he knew and had now grown accustomed to in Phoenix Valley to return to those days wandering the grounds alone, if he'd wanted to. Somehow, he didn't. Somehow, faces like Iskata's had kept him there... and now that she was miserable and blind, he didn't know what to think of himself or her. Of Phoenix Valley. "You wouldn't go anywhere but here," he remarked, eye focused into the distance opened up by the window. It was... far too cold outside that day. "Your heart's here, even if your vision's not. Just shut up about belonging." His voice grew so frustrated all of a sudden, though it remained in its calmer down. A sudden pain possessed it, as if continuing the conversation was slowly becoming more and more a lost cause. He... already knew that. "Stop telling me everything's different. You lost your eyesight and got a couple scratches on your face. I lost one eye and a leg, goddamnit. I'm still alive." He inhaled deeply all of a sudden, releasing tension on its exhale. Was he a friend? He didn't know. She'd done far more than he. "You're the one who let me stay," he said quietly.

[/html]

[Iskata Sadira]

Iskata ignored his words though she knew they were true. She just didn't want to be pushed back into the real world yet, she knew what would happen, old faces would appear, the drama would begin and she'd be forced to relive over and over again the details of what happened.. or atleast the lie she'd began. She flicked her ears back as she growled softly. "I may not be going anywhere.. but I don't want the rest of the world to see me either.." it wasn't just a statement, it was a demand of the new leader. She didn't want the world at her doorstep and she expected her own privacy. Jefferson might know more about how she was feeling right now, but he didn't know the world she'd grown up in, he didn't know her friend and their family.. yet. She had a feeling that soon enough he'd be forced into meeting a lot of faces she didn't want seeing her.

He actually for once kept her maw shut when she was told to, Jefferson knew what she was going through and he was probably the only one who had any right to tell her to stop her sobbing and face up to the world. Flicking her ears back and forth in irritation she let her shoulders slump finally before she spoke softly on the last words he left her with. "Deuce was just wrong. I don't blame every coyote for what has happen in my past. Once I may have.. once I almost went that far.." she said honestly. She didn't know that DaVinci had already spoken of their strange family love hate relation they'd once had, but she was speaking of it now.

[Jefferson Soul]

[html]

--



He'd been the same once, and he knew it. Insecurity was a bitch when all-encompassing amnesia struck; when he first woke in that puddle of his own blood--soaked in it, tasting it in his mouth--he hardly knew he was even alive. He hadn't known what living was, but he knew he'd been hurt somehow and that he couldn't remember a thing. It had felt his mind was covered in cobwebs, like no train of thought had passed through in a number of months. His eye had been pounding, and opening it was impossible. The amount of blood was invisible to his sight even when the eye was opened--he was half-blind and couldn't remember a thing. I'll call myself Jefferson, he'd told himself after he'd struggled to read the name on a sign where he'd woken up. At least until I can remember.

He never did. His eye never opened again.

She understood when he had told her to keep quiet. He almost wished she hadn't; she was becoming a subordinate of his, and he didn't like it. Jefferson missed her spark already, her smile. The two recalled when the half-dead hybrid collapsed onto Phoenix Valley borders that first time, not at all knowing what answers and adventures laid there in waiting. Deuce had shooed him away; Iskata had let him stay. She was... different, then. "What happened?" He said quietly, eye turning back to her. When had she ever been against coyotes? Wasn't he already supposed to know this?

[/html]

[Iskata Sadira]

Iskata looked down, there was nothing she saw but still the move was one that was ingrained into her. She didn't know why she'd said what she had but Jefferson deserved the truth and he would get it. She sighed softly as she listened to the crackling of the fire and tried to piece everything together in her mind. Here she was living in a newly broken world trying to remember a past broken life she'd moved on so far beyond that the memories were jumbled.

She lifted her head finally as she began to speak. "There was a war between Clouded Tears and Inferni once, my best friend was from Inferni.. I wouldn't listen to Laruku, I had to see her.. she was closer to me than my siblings were. One of her clanmates caught me near their border and left me for the dead. I should have died but I didn't, instead DaVinci's father found me.." She turned her face away a moment as she tried to catch her breath. "He raped me.. and kept coming back to taunt me.. my mate was killed during the war by Gabriel, Inferni's current leader, he never lived to know our daughter, or DaVinci. DaVinci's father stole my children.. we fought in Inferni andmy daughter and I fell over the cliff and into the ocean below." She couldn't stop the blood tainted tears that fell as she remembered the moments in little flashes. "Laruku killed DaVinci's father and took Davi back to Clouded Tears. I lived but couldn't find Magdalena, I thought she'd been killed as well. Seeing DaVinci drove me over the edge and I attacked him.." She was ashamed of her actions in the past but she could admit to her own guilt now.

[Jefferson Soul]

[html]

--



It explained some things--that initial disturbance in DaVinci's character he'd found when the gimp had first come across that obnoxious silver nuisance. He'd mentioned then something about hating his mother or something to that extent; Jefferson couldn't really remember much from that far back, but somewhere along the line, such feelings must have been discarded by mother and son alike. Jefferson supposed it was why he wasn't looking into families, love, or anything... and he wasn't planning on raping anything, so he figured he wouldn't have much to worry about. But in the meantime, the beast had been there to calm down DaVinci that first time. He'd been there to calm down Iskata when she'd spoken about Phoenix and her other children. He'd been there to calm DaVinci again after the bear attack, and now he was here, hearing out what Iskata had to say. Puzzles were finally beginning to be placed together to create some sort of general picture. It was all pretty complicated to Jefferson and his simplistic little mind.

"...It's in the past now, Iskata," he said calmly, taking on an unusually sympathetic look and shaking his head. "DaVinci's here now, and he doesn't care anymore. He has his own kids to worry about." He looked down a moment, then reached up a claw and scratched at the back of his neck. "Everyone has regrets like that. You can't let that stop you now. All my sins are on my body." The body littered with scars, gashes, crimes. "You get weighed down... but not stopped. You can only stop yourself."

[/html]

[Iskata Sadira]

She silently stared away into the nothing as Jefferson spoke, there was little else to say as she just took a deep breath and tried to push away the memories he reminded her were only regrets that couldn't stop her now. She pinned her ears back as she turned slightly towards Jefferson and asked. "Do you really wear all your sins upon your skin?" She'd only known a slight bit of the male's past, what he could recall, there was a lot of the inbetween that neither the once matriarch and the new leader knew.. or else the scarred male refused to indulge her in. She'd never stopped to consider what sins her nephew may have committed but no one was without sin, thatmuch she knew.

She furrowed her brow a second as she reconsidered what she'd asked. Shaking her head she sighed. "On second though, maybe I'm better off not knowing your own troubles.." She would have glanced at the male, studying him if she could but she knew there was no point in it, instead she said softly. "..but if they start weighing you down.. there's not much else I can do but listen.." she didn't say it in resentment, merely the truth. She couldn't hunt, she couldn't stalk, she'd be pathedic in a fight.. but she could listen and she'd lived her life long enough to offer some sort of advice, even if it was bad advice.