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Brother. <3 500+ words.
######Running her finger along the binding of the tattered book she clutched in her hands, Princess inhaled silently, her mind racing with tidbits of worry at what she knew she had to do. Though it had happened under terrible circumstances, the girl was more than grateful for the talk she had had with Anselm on the rocky shore. No longer was she angry with how her brother had handled the news about her and Haven, but rather, she was feeling completely awful for how she had treated him after her lover had come to the borders. It had taken her too long to realize that Ares had only wanted to protect her and her honor, and though she did not completely agree with what he had done, she appreciated what he had wanted to do. She loved her brother too much to hang on to the anger that had bloomed, because she was not Tokyo. She never would be, and she hoped that her brother would tell her if she ever became too much like their mother. By continuing to harbor that anger towards him, Princess felt as though she was no better than the older Chance woman.
######Her talk with Anselm had yielded good results, even if she had taken some time to treat her wounds before acting on the results of the conversation. Her shoulder was still sore, and her neck had obviously been wounded recently, but once the bleeding had stopped occurring, she had taken a walk into one of the human cities, coming up to the big stone library with the strange-looking felines outside. No one would miss any of the books if she took them now, since all of the humans were gone. A whole day had been spent yesterday looking through the many books. It took a great deal of time until she found what she was looking for; a book that mentioned an Ares. Surprisingly, it was the name of the Greek god of war, whatever a Greek god was. Perhaps it was different from the other god she had read about once, in snippets of that thick book with the very thin pages. It seemed like a good present for Ares, since she had realized while searching that their birthday was just a day away. It had snuck up on them very quickly, it seemed. But now, she was a full-fledged adult, a whole year old, not just a woman in the standards of experience.
######She studied the title of the book in her hands, tracing her finger now along the faded letters. Universe, the Gods, and Men, the cover read, though she could not make out the name of the human that had written the book. Perhaps her brother would find enjoyment in reading this book, like she had enjoyed the bits and pieces she had read in the library. Raising her hand to his closed bedroom door, Princess braced herself for the potential anger that might come from her brother. One knock, then two, and then she lowered her hand to rest underneath the book with her other hand. She had not thought to wrap the gift, but now that she thought of it, it was too late. All that she had was her regular blue dress, and she was wearing that - she couldn't very well try and wrap his present in it! "Ares? It's me. I have a gift for you," she added, hoping that it might quell any potential resentment he might feel.
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brotha is slow! 404 words
Ares had been dozing in his comfy, squishy bed. He had gone looking recently, and found five or six different blankets to pile on his bed. He didn't sleep under the sheets, but instead in a nest of his blankets. If it was cold enough, sometimes he pulled the big fluffy white one over him, but usually his fur was enough, and the blankets were just for softness. He had always been a light sleeper. It was a habit learned early on, a remnant from the days when he had to always be on guard, alert, ready to scramble out of the way if he was somehow incurring the wrath of his mother. At the knock, then, he jolted straight awake. The voice stilled the panic fluttering in his chest - he had been dreaming about something unpleasant, but he couldn't remember just what. He had a bit of a headache, too, which was why he had tried to nap in the first place. Princess, though. His sister, she'd make the day brighter. And with a gift!
Before opening the door, Ares fell to hands and knees, reaching under his bed. He was actually rather proud of himself for remembering their birthday; he usually wasn't very good with dates, or anything. But a first birthday! That was such a big event. Princess and him were.. basically adults, now. God damn, he certainly didn't feel like one. Ignoring the faint pounding of the remnants of his headache, he dug out the carefully engraved wood jewelry box. Inside were three glittery pieces of metal: a butterfly, a dragonfly, and a ladybug. There were three silver pieces which could be snapped into place on the back of the shapes, turning any of the pieces into: a hair-clip, a brooch, or a necklace. He had found it investigating some old house, along with his tatty backpack and a few spiral bound notebooks which he now used to write his poetry in. Personally he thought his own treasures were the greater ones, but this sort of thing seemed like something Princess would like.
Standing up with it, he tucked it under one arm and opened the door nervously. If she came bringing a present.. She probably wasn't still mad? But she had seemed so angry.. Did she hate him, now? "Hey Princess.. I have something for you, too. What'd you bring?" He looked curiously at the book in her hands.
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<3 500+ words.
######It wasn't long before the door was opened from the inside, but it felt like an eternity as she waited in hopes that he would let her in and that he wouldn't still be angry with her. If she had to say it, she would not have blamed him for completely ignoring her knock and words, though it would have been hurtful. Ares had the right to remain angry with her, and though it would have been upsetting, she supposed she would have easily understood why he might still be angry. A sigh of relief escaped her at the sight of her grayscale sibling, and for a moment, she entertained the idea of jumping at him, throwing her arms around him in the biggest hug she could imagine. Reigning in that wish, however, she knew it might not be the best idea yet. After she had lived with Tokyo for a few months, they had not been as close as they once were, and after having fought so when he had found her alcohol and Haven had come, there was even more holding her back. Still, the idea was there in the back of her mind.
######Holding out the book, Princess beamed at her brother, proud that they had both remembered their birthday and that they had both thought of the idea of presents. "It's a book. . . I was in the library looking for something for you, and I found this one, 'cause it has stuff about that guy Ares in it, and a bunch of other guys. Some girls, too," she added, though it didn't seem necessary. She didn't know whether he would want to read more about his own chosen namesake, let alone about other gods of some old human race. Still, maybe he would like it, and maybe he could tell her about what was in it sometime. Though she had tried to read it, Princess had been less than pleased by some of the stories in it. Seriously, who wanted to read about a god who ate all of his children that he had with his sister? There were probably some really good stories in there, though, so she would like to hear them from her brother someday, if he was interested in telling her.
######Feeling suddenly shy through her nervousness, Princess looked down at their foot, then past his legs to the floor of his room. It would probably be less awkward if they weren't standing on either side of his doorway when she talked to him about what had happened and her conversation with Anselm. "So. . . Happy Birthday. Could I maybe come in? I guess. . . I want to talk to you about what happened, because i've been thinking about it a lot," she blurted out, the words coming out so quickly her own ears could hardly decipher what she had said. Hopefully, he would be able to understand what she had said, because it was important. Even more important, however, was what she wanted to apologize for more than anything. "And I wanted to say, I'm really sorry for calling you Buttface that day. . . It just slipped out." Princess was afraid that, by calling him that, she had hurt him more than was imaginable. If there was any way she could take a low blow at her brother, it was calling him by the degrading name their mother had given him. It had been insensitive, even if it had been an accident on her part in anger.
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new new ares av! he is such a srsface. 516 words
The thought that Princess might think he was angry didn't even cross his mind. Ares hated when they fought, and this time it was his fault - he pushed too hard, and he knew it. He just hoped that she would be able to understand where he was trying to come from, that the ultimate reason he punched Haven was because he cared for her, because he wanted to protect her from things that might hurt her. He still didn't like Haven, but if Princess was so set on being with him it wasn't like he had much of a choice. She had inherited more of her mother's willfulness than Ares had; he would wilt in the face of stubborn opposition more quickly.
He took the book when his sister offered it. It was called Universe, the Gods, and Men. Ares hadn't read it before, and wondered if any of the stories about his namesake would be new. Probably not, but there might be new stories about the other gods, or different angles on some of the familiar stories. It was still pretty cool to have another book to read; his one book on gods would now have a companion on his lonely little bookshelf in the corner. "Thanks, this looks awesome!" Excited, but still holding an edge of restraint, uncertain to how mad Princess still was. She was giving him a present, which was a hopeful sign, but still, Ares didn't know for sure..
"Yeah, come in, sit down." His golden gaze swung round to his nest of blankets. Walking across his room, he set the book carefully down next to his original one, and pulled the wooden box out from under his arm. "Happy birthday to you, too." Unlike his sister, he didn't explain what it was, he would let her open the wooden box first and then he would elaborate on what he thought the various functions of the trinkets were. "Can you believe we're already a year?" Ares mused additionally. It stilled seemed so damn unreal, when had they gotten so old, they were just kids. It felt wrong for Princess to be out having.. sex.. with this Haven, but they were sort of almost real adults! It was such a weird thought.
She apologized for calling him.. That name, that he used to have. Ares' instinct was to reassure her, tell her it was okay, but the truth was.. it sort of wasn't. So he was glad that she understood that. He had tried not to take it too personally, tried to pretend it was just a slip of her tongue based on habit, but it still had hurt. "I forgive you for that." He said quietly. "I'm.. I'm sorry for punching Haven. Well, sort of. I'm mostly sorry that that hurt you, not that it hurt him." Ares was at least honest in his apology. He was sorry for other things, too, but she had come here to speak to him, and he wanted to wait to see her reaction to the present first, too, before they dove into more serious matters.
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<3 500+ words.
######His acceptance seemed held back, which only made her more nervous about being there. Likely, it meant he was still angry with her, though she did not know exactly what she was worried about him being angry about. It could have been the choice of name when yelling, or that she had sex in the first place, or that she took Haven's side in that argument. It was probably all three, which only made the situation worse. Princess followed him into his room quietly, pulling the door shut behind her, just incase he was still angry. Even if he wasn't, though, she thought the conversation they were going to have was far too personal for anyone passing through the halls to be listening in on. For a girl who was always so nosy, she very much cherished privacy when it came to herself and her own affairs. Just because she wanted to know everything about everyone, no one needed to know anything about her or her brother, or that involved the two of them together.
######Taking the box that was handed to her, Princess settled uneasily on the bed, quickly surveying the room. It looked so different from her room, but also strangely similar. It held the human touches, just like hers, but it seemed that she had kept hers a bit more pristine, and she had many more belongings than he did. That also was not surprising, since she had, unfortunately, inherited more of her mother's traits, and her mother was very materialistic. Allowing her attention to fall once more on the box her brother had given her, she lifted the lid and studied its contents. "They're so pretty," she exclaimed quietly, one delicate finger pressing fondly against the jewelled bugs. Lifting the dragonfly out, she studied it carefully. Golden eyes lifting to her brother, she smiled shyly. He knew her so well, it seemed, even if they had been separated for so long and had fought twice since they had found one another again. "Thank you, Ares."
######Ares was still upset about what she had called him, Princess believed, but to have him say that he forgave her was enough to make her feel a little reassured, and his apology was honest, and relatively close to complete. He did not have to like Haven, but she wanted him to be happy for her anyway, if he could manage. "I was out of the pack lands a couple days after that happened, and I ended up talking to this guy, Anselm," she started, deciding to omit any mention of the wolf that had tried to take advantage of her after she threatened to bite him. If her brother had been so angry at her having consensual sex, what would he say if he learned about what had almost happened? He would probably never let her out of his sight again. "Anyway, I ended up talking to him about what had happened, because I was still upset, and he gave me some stuff to think about. . . But he basically told me not to be angry and that you were only trying to protect me. He asked how I would have felt if the situation was reversed, and. . . I tried to pretend it wouldn't bother me, but it would," she admitted. "So I wanted to come and tell you I wasn't mad anymore, and to ask. . . If you're still mad at me." Her tone was hopeful, but her eyes were on the floor.
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<3333. Tiny bit of PP! 369 words
Ares was glad that Princess liked the present. He was pretty sure that she would, it was just nice to see her happiness at it. He thought she would appreciate the sparkly nature of the pieces especially. It was weird to think of Princess consorting with non-pack members. Ares had barely even left Crimson Dreams pack lands, and the fact that it was something he had never done made him even less inclined to do so. At first it was just because he was terrified of meeting his mother, but now that Princess was living with him.. Well, it was sort of like why bother? What existed beyond the pack borders that he needed? He had here the only family and friends that mattered. Well, Conor was a friend too, but it wasn't like Ares was going to be traipsing over Dahlian boundaries to go visit him. Especially not after that close call with Haku.
"I'm not mad if you aren't." Ares said tiredly, then tentatively suggested: "We should just forget about it, and try and go back to how it used to be?" Of course, it never would. You could never rewind time, and both of them had changed too much. Besides, how far back was he talking? The joy they felt at being reunited, after the initial friction? Or from a million years ago, when together they had decided to leave their mother and embrace the world on their own, no matter the danger that promised? There was a bravery deep within Princess that those who did not know her as well as Ares did would easily overlook. A child, that young, leaving her home for naught but love for her brother. It wasn't like she had escaped someplace terrible, like he was. She had everything she could have wanted, there. Food and affection and nigh-constant praise.
Ares carefully placed a mottled gray arm over his sister's shoulder, squeezing her tight against him in a half-hug, glancing down through dangling black bangs at her pristine beauty. When had he gotten taller than her? He knew he had been growing a little bigger lately, but it was weird to think that she had stopped. "I love you more than anything."
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<3 300+ words.
######Princess nodded slowly, contemplating her brother's suggestion, unsure of whether or not it would even be possible to go back to anything they had before. Time had passed, words had been spoken, deeds had been done, and they had all affected the relationship between brother and sister. It did not seem likely that things could ever go back to normal, whatever "normal" was in their lives. As far as she knew, there had never been anything even remotely normal about their lives, but they had kept on going, pushing together against the ebb and flow of the world against them. No matter how much she tried, she could not imagine that pretending it was gone would fix what had passed between them, but for her brother, she was willing to give the idea a try.
######Though she was willing to try and do that for him, she did not want them to not acknowledge what had happened with both Haven and Mati. Obviously, there was something going on between her and the orange boy, and there had been a relationship between Ares and Mati, too. They had not just met or anything of that sort. "Okay, Ares. I can try, but. . . I want you to know that there is something between me and Haven. I don't know what, but there is something. And I wanted to ask, how did you know Mati before? What's going on between you two?" Princess sincerely doubted that Mati would have been so upset about what her brother had said--something absolutely ridiculous to be upset about, in her opinion--if there had not been a prior relationship between them. She was feeling very out of the loop, as she had told her brother about Haven, but she knew nothing about Mati or the potential relationship.
######Leaning into the comforting touch of her brother, Princess sighed, happily and wistfully all in one breath. "I love you, too. . . And I'm not going to leave you again. I promise." She wished there was a way to completely remedy the situation, but for now, she was able to settle for knowing that they both loved each other. They could not take back the things they had said or done, but they could try and begin again. Wasn't that why she had come to Crimson Dreams, to be with him and start over, and to be away from Tokyo? It had been a means to make both siblings happy, and she wanted to feel happy with him again.
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almost done?  D. 362 words
Ares wanted not only to pretend that things were back like they were, but also that his sister was still his and his alone, that Haven wasn't off sullying her innocence.. But Princess' agreement came linked with an acceptance or at least an acknowledgment of that distasteful fact, and so Ares swallowed it as best as he could. It was his job as a brother to learn how to deal with that fact without feeling so damned itchy and unhappy within his skin. And then.. her question about Mati. Ares didn't even know how to answer that. Because there wasn't anything between them. But there was. Sort of? He shook his head. "I met her my first night here, we talked and looked at the stars in front of the mansion." He remembered it crystal clear, every detail from the subjects they spoke about to the silly throwing of grass at each other. If anything actually existed between Mati and Ares, he would point to that as a proper first meeting, a proper first date. Not getting drunk and.. He didn't even let that thought finish, it would just cause him to spark the anger he'd been trying so hard to extinguish.
"And, I dunno. There's nothing really. I mean, I like her? But I don't think she's interested in me like that, and I'm okay with just being friends." Sort of. Like, he would prefer just being friends to not having her in his life at all, but he had a sinking suspicion that eventually it would start to grate on him a lot more. Or maybe not. Maybe he would just lose the sill fantasies and hopes that so frequently blotted out more sensible thoughts and aspirations. There were lots of other girls, weren't there? Except for Noir, none had seemed really to like him too much in particular. And she was just a kid, even younger than Princess, waaaay too young for any sort of relationship, so she wasn't even someone to consider or anything. He'd find someone for him eventually. When he was older, and mature enough to be able to deal with what that sort of thing brought.
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I wouldn't mind going a few more rounds, and maybe a newer thread, possibly? 500+ words.
######It was strange to think that they were together once more, but now one of their biggest concerns also included two others their own age. The time spent together before her excursion to find Tokyo had been mostly in regards to their own well-being, each other, and staying away from their wretched mother. At the time, it had seemed as though she could never have anything to worry about that was not herself or her beloved brother. Despite how young they had been when they had rid themselves of Tokyo for months, Princess felt that they had done well for themselves and for each other. She had never wanted there to be any hard feelings between them, and it pained her to know that her drunken night had only further caused the rift between them to grow that had formed when she had wanted to confront their mother. Now, at the tender age of one year, they seemed to have so much more to worry about. Princess hated admitting it to herself, but it seemed that their main concerns were drifting from one another.
######Not only did they have the Haven incident falling between them, the girl was realizing that she was not the only important one in her brother's life anymore. It didn't hurt, but it did bother her a little, especially because he had not told her this earlier. He almost had, it had seemed, as long as she recalled correctly, but his anger at her confession had stopped him from giving her any actual information. No matter how angry he had been, nothing excused that! She was Princess, his important sister, and she deserved to know things like this immediately, not when she was coming to apologize for telling him something important more than a month before! It was absolutely ridiculous that he had kept it from her, but the logical part of her mind--no matter how scarce it often was--tried telling her that she had no right to be upset. Ares was a very private male, it seemed, and there had been no rule placed that he had to tell her everything. In retrospect, she wished it had been so, or that there was some sort of binding, enforced brother-sister clause that stated that he absolutely had to tell her everything under the sun.
######Their first night together sounded nice. . . Maybe she would go find Haven sometime, and they could look at the stars together. That would certainly be nice, but it was not the most pressing matter at hand. "No you're not," she countered, golden eyes settling on his face boldly. Now, she was no longer nervous. This was something she could at least pretend to be confident about, and she was almost always able to make sense out of something, even if it meant twisting information in her favor, or in this case, her brother's. "That's a lie, and I bet you know it. If you like her, then you can't just. . . Be friends, just like that. No, you have to do something about it," she added, tone encouraging. Maybe if her brother would act on his feeling for Mati, he might understand where she was coming from a little better, and he might not be nearly as angry as he had been about her night with Haven.
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ya sure~ super grats on spotlight soul, btw's. . 302 words
Okay, so he sort of wasn't really that okay with it. But it wasn't just about him. He had to take Mati's feelings into consideration too. After all, wasn't that the point? In a relationship, the other person's thoughts and feelings were supposed to matter as much as yours. Or even more. It wasn't something you could create just because one of the two really wanted it. For all that Ares disapproved of their getting together, at least Princess had found someone who wanted her back for her first "love." He honestly wasn't too sure she'd deal with unrequited affection that well; she was very, very used to getting what she wanted. But.. that sort of thing only counted for half, in romance. Ares could ache and dream and long until his heart was sore and bruised by loneliness, but it wouldn't create a spark that didn't exist in Mati.
Ares shrugged, trying to remain dispassionate in one of the matters he felt strongest about. "It's.. not only what I want, Princess. I can't change how she feels about me, and I'm sure she doesn't like me, not like that." He persisted stubbornly. It was too dangerous of a thing to pin hope on something as unlikely as Mati actually wanting him the way he wanted her. It would crush his heart too thoroughly to be rejected, grinding it into powdered nothingness to drift away on the breeze. No, it was much better this way.. Ares had a childhood of practice of living with the steady ache, and he had had enough encounters with the sharp and sudden hurts to avoid them with everything he had.
"I don't think there's even anything I can do." He said heavily, a sad smile on his face, glancing over at his sister through dangling black bangs.
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Fanks! <3 300+ words.
######The fact that Ares was so down on the idea was bothering her, but she supposed she could understand that he did not want to get his hopes up about the situation. Princess would have been upset if she had liked someone and they had not felt similarly, but that did not mean that she thought her brother should give up so easily. Relationships certainly were something between two separate individuals who become one with each other, but that had to be initiated by someone. Leaving things up to complete chance would do no good, and Princess was not willing to let her brother settle for second best in anything. They had come this far to get something better than they'd had as children with Tokyo. For him to accept this without even trying would only lead to him settling for anything less than the best in the future. He deserved so much more.
######Whether or not he wanted to admit it, Princess now had experience in relationships, regardless of how unorthodox her experience had been. Because of her usual haughty nature, she even considered herself somewhat of an expert now. "You should tell her, or if you want, I can even tell her. And if she doesn't like you back, Ares, then she's not good enough for you at all," she said bluntly, though there was a reassuring smile on her face for her brother's sake, and the words were not meant to be hurtful towards Mati, even though they were on very bad terms after what had happened. Truthfully, she doubted if they would ever even be close to friends. However, now she had even more reason to try to be nice to the much larger girl. Not only was Mati Haven's sister, but she was also the object of her brother's affections, even if she could not quite understand why. In her opinion, Mati was too uptight and easily offended for her brother, but it only gave her more reason to try and be kind to her.
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