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+--- Thread: Blacktail Deer Plateau open your heart to it (/showthread.php?tid=31152)
open your heart to it - RIP Grezig - December 04, 2018
They had traveled non-stop from the Ridge to the Plateau. Grezig did not stop think about seeing Liri or Kavik again. Her only concern was Illidan. She didn’t stop to think about Siege or her brother Derg. They could wait. The boy was more important. The boy would always be more important. No matter what he thought of her leaving. No matter what he said to her.
They reached the borders. Grezig was panting heavily now, but she threw her head back and released a wild, desperate howl. She was calling only for Illidan, but fully expected the others to show up. Liri, the bitch. And Kavik. It did not matter. She only wanted the boy.
RE: open your heart to it - Caiaphas - December 05, 2018
she followed behind, wordless — and despite the silence between the two of them an electric crackle of turbulence hounded their steps. the sylph’s emotions hung in the air like a violent storm ready to crack; too many thoughts swirled in the strange realm housed behind her skull. in some ways, she was thankful the she-wolf ahead spoke little.
too many thoughts, like what if it was a mistake and the whelp she was lead to was not her own? could her heart, already battered and stripped to nothing but withered sinew, bear another massive disappointment? and what if it was her son - would he recognize her, would his guardians willingly release him?
she never once considered the possibility if it was illidan that she would return home empty handed; but what was home, and where?
god save any wolf that tried to stop her — the matriarch walked with heavy purpose in her tread, and a cold determination settled across her narrow countenance. she would come, and she would take him with her — and nothing save her own death would possibly get in her way.
RE: open your heart to it - RIP Kavik - December 05, 2018
Kavik crouched low to the ground, emerald gaze fixed on the hare shuffling about a few yards in front of him. It had not been his intention to hunt this morning, but when presented with the tempting offer, he couldn't refuse. His hunter's gaze tracked the tentative movements of his prey as it rooted around the forest floor, clearly unaware of its audience. A howl spread across the plateau then, causing the rabbit to briefly freeze before taking off into the trees. He might have followed it or been mildly annoyed at the interruption, but the howl was Grezig's, and so the rabbit was quickly forgotten as he wondered what could possibly bring her to their borders. He expected it would be a long while before he heard from her, so he immediately grew worried that something bad had drove her back here.
He moved quickly through the trees in the direction of the call, slowing when he saw not only Grezig at their threshold, but a stranger as well. He did a double take as he quickly noticed how much she looked like Illidan. Composing himself, he moved to stand in front of the women.
Grezig,he greeted with a dip of his head.
What can I do for you?he asked next, addressing the question to both wolves.
RE: open your heart to it - Illidan - December 06, 2018
the call had grasped his attention without even a second of pause. the young wildling turned his crown toward where it had sounded and cupped his ears forward with interest. after their last conversation, he hadn't expected her to have returned to the edges of their territory so soon. still, there was urgency in her voice, and he was not willing to allow her to wait longer than need be. on youthful limbs, he turned to where he had heard her and made his way; each stride released a puff of steam through his nostrils and into the air.
once he had closed some of the space, illidan noted the scent of kavik and wondered if the dark man had moved to intercept grezig before anyone else could. his eyes darted toward where he could make out the faint shape of the man who led them, and what he imagined to be grezig's figure just beyond that. prowling forward, the young man pressed himself through the brush and onto the other side with a ghostly smile in the direction of the woman. he still felt disappointment for her having left, but there was a hopeful piece inside of him that thought she might have returned.
it was then that he saw the other figure – the wretched and spindly sea witch – who's hawkish yellow gaze matched his own without any difference. illidan stiffened and drew his crown upward, hackles rising along his neck and shoulder out of shock and fear. surely, it could not have been real; he must have been dreaming. after all that time, the boy had never anticipated that he would see his mother again. illidan had accepted that she too had died in the same dreadful way as his father.
the glint of his yellow gaze darted toward grezig; she had fulfilled her promise that had been made months before. while she had not found his brother, she had found his family... after all that time. his nostrils flared wildly as he took a step forward and breathed the air between them. she smelled brackish and cold – she smelled of a home he had forgotten.
“where have you been... all this time?”
the young man's voice demanded it of her. he was no longer a child that could be hushed with the quick snap of his parent's fangs, or the sharp look of their gaze. while it seemed daring of him to speak to her in such a manner, it was all he could do to keep himself from turning and fleeing the scene he had abandoned in his imagination when he had been much younger. strong as he had grown, illidan did not know that he was capable enough to stand before the three figures in that way.
the dark man who had acted as a father, the gruff woman who had pulled him under her wing... and the wild witch who had lost him when he had been only a pup.
i thought you were dead, he wanted to say to her, but his voice hitched against the back of his throat and did not move forward. it was likely that she had thought the very same of him. it was far less likely that he would have survived that long on his own than that she had perished. still, the boy was revisited by the mangled image of his father's body on the shore of the lake. illidan had never imagined that he would need to tell his mother of that day, but there she was... and she would surely like to know what had happened to her mate after all those months.
RE: open your heart to it - RIP Grezig - December 10, 2018
I don’t think Grezig actually knows Caiaphas’ name. I’m just using it to make it easier to tell who she’s talking about. Also, SORRY FOR THE WAIT. I’ve been studying for a final and writing a paper for the last few days and haven’t had much free time.
Kavik came soon, and Grezig hardly even glanced at him, too busy searching the horizon for Illidan. “Kavik,” she said in greeting. “We’re here for the boy. Not you. You’re welcome to stay, I don’t care. But we’re only here for Illidan. I found his mother.” Here, she gestured to her side where Caiaphas stood waiting.
Soon enough, Illidan emerged, and he looked shocked almost at once. Grezig saw his yellow eyes dart to look at her in surprise, then he spoke to his mother. ’Where have you been… all this time?’
Grezig sat wordlessly. She would let this play out however it was going to play out. She’d gotten Illidan’s mother here. He deserved his time with her. Half of her thought maybe she and Kavik should leave, but she knew the boy had a temper and she also knew almost nothing about the woman. She didn’t feel exactly comfortable leaving them alone together, especially not when Illidan’s first words had been ones of anger. Not that she blamed him for that. He had a right to his feelings. Grezig, too, wanted to know where Caiaphas had been all this time.
RE: open your heart to it - Caiaphas - December 12, 2018
the siren queen lifted her head as a male broke from the dense wood; from the bearing of his stalwart figure she surmised he was a member of importance to this pack. she kept her posture neutral, though her tail hung low — a current still roared through her, tense and electric as a bow’s taut string — yet somehow, she kept her composure.
until he came.
she had sworn for months she would have given anything to see him again — and that was still true — yet the hardened way he looked at her, as if she had betrayed him — it cut her down fullbore, and the hope in her withered down to grief.
she felt a prickle along her back at the loaded words her son spoke — and yet, who could blame him for feeling abandoned and cold? as much as she wanted her children to grow hardened and strong, it was not in this way. her expression darkened, yet the sylph tamed the sharp lance of her tongue. this was not the reunion she anticipated, and even with her son’s barbed words, it took everything she had not to rush to embrace him.
everywhere, surviving..caiaphas’ voice was palpably unsteady, but her eyes betrayed her by the steel glint that remained well after the claws of his accusation sunk into her hide.
looking for you, for ephraim, for rhakios..there was no undoing the damage harvested following the wake of the tempest that disunited them — but caiaphas would do all she could to repair their splintered lives.
is.. your father with you?her voice fell to a broken hush, the words so tentative it seemed even the hope was chased out of her heart.
RE: open your heart to it - RIP Kavik - December 13, 2018
He hardly had time to react to the clipped way Grezig greeted him because the mention of Illidan's mother quickly took over all of his thoughts. He looked at the woman for a second, unsure what even to say here. Somewhere deep down, he always knew this was a possibility, especially when Grezig first left to search for his parents, but now it was actually real, and he wasn't sure how to feel about it.
His attention was drawn immediately to the young man who had been in his care for all these months. He couldn't begin to imagine what this was like for him. He watched silently as Illidan came to stand with them, the question leaving his lips accusatory. It ruffled the alpha a little to hear the emotion in his voice; he felt like he should do something. But this was not something he could shelter him from. He couldn't stop this reunion because in the end, Kavik just wanted him to be happy, and maybe his mother could better ensure that for him. He stepped back a little, giving them the space to talk but remaining close just in case.
His curiosity piqued greatly when the dark-faced woman asked about Illidan's father. Kavik always assumed his parents were together, so he too wondered where the man had been all this time. He kept his questions to himself, though, still wanting to give them space.
RE: open your heart to it - RIP Grezig - January 04, 2019
I’m closing this cos it’s old. Sorry for skipping Illidan. Feel free to re-open this if you want.
After the woman’s next questions, Grezig suddenly had the urge to leave her and Illidan alone. She glanced at Kavik, trying to eyeball and get him to leave with her. Then she gave the boy a longing look, turned, and walked away. She needed to give them—and herself—some privacy, no matter how much she wanted to know what would be said between them. There would be time to talk later, no doubt. And if there wasn’t, then… oh well. There wouldn’t be much she could do about that.
[Exit.]
RE: open your heart to it - Illidan - January 06, 2019
please shoot me a message before archiving threads that are vital to my character's development specifically. big dramatic threads like this take more time from me. you're always welcome to pull your character out if you don't want to wait. :)
she explained that she had been surviving and searching for all of them. the thought made his stomach lurch; it meant that she had not yet found ephraim or rhakios in her travels. perhaps that was for the best, as the young ghost still regarded his sandy brother with a great deal of hostility. he could not help but to blame ephraim for the loss of their father. if the idiot hadn’t run off to begin with, they never would have gotten separated. if he hadn’t wandered away into the woods, they would all still be together. the thought was enough to drive a bitter stake through his chest, but it did not prepare him at all for the question that followed.
’is… your father with you?’
he felt a knot twist in his gut and hold there. the wildling did not know how to convey what he knew to her, to the hope that he heard in her voice. he did not know how he was supposed to tell her about how he had found the old man beaten by the pull of the river and cast ashore on some strange lake to rot and decay. god, he wished that he could lie to her and tell her that he didn’t know where the ashen ghost had wandered away to. he wished he could allow her to cling to the idea that he could still return.
illidan shook his head softly and clenched his jaw as tightly as he could. he felt the pain sear against the back of his throat in an attempt to form the words, but he lacked all the social grace and capability to have such conversations. it was as though he had been transported back to his youth, and young boys should never have had to have that kind of conversation with their parents.
“he’s… he didn’t make it. he’s dead.”
the words were strangled from his lips and they hitched against the back of his throat one too many times to come out as strongly as he had hoped. the dark-hooded youth had not even noticed the disappearance of grezig in that time. he could not have noticed her even if he had wanted to. everything else seemed to fade away to the realization that he had finally admitted what he’d seen all those months ago. it was the first time that he had spoken about the travesty that had struck their family. he wanted it to be the last.
“can i go… can i go with you? wherever you are?” he then asked her, and glanced to kavik as though he were asking permission from the man who had taken him in.
RE: open your heart to it - Caiaphas - February 03, 2019
no sooner had she uttered the question had she seen all hope of its answer extinguished -- for a pained flicker stole across the dark crest of her son's face, and told all there was to tell.
caiaphas felt the lull of her heart as it sank -- another notch to its battered surface, another soul lost forever to oblivion.
her gaze fell in defeat, and a shaky breath wracked her frame -- for her worst fears had come true, uttered from the mouth of a babe that ought to have never witnessed nor had this conversation at all.
instinctively she swept towards him, arching her neck around his thin shoulders to pull him close -- she needed nothing else, and to press him for further answers would only serve to thrust the knife deeper in both of their guts. "of course," she managed, her throat constricted and voice dry --
"let's go home."
as she looked up she saw grezig had departed -- but kavik remained. the proud siren held his gaze a moment, the brim of her eyes misted over with new anguish. "i owe you -- and grezig -- a great debt. should you ever need something, find me on the coast where the beach is hidden by giant trees."
RE: open your heart to it - RIP Kavik - February 06, 2019
Kavik didn't leave with Grezig. He understood her discomfort, of course, but he needed to hear what Illidan was going to say. It might be intrusive, but he couldn't just leave him there alone in this reunion. He could at least offer a familiar presence.
He was not expecting to hear Illidan say that his father had died. All this time, had lived with that grief, never confiding in anyone from what he could tell. It certainly shed some light on his behavior over the last few months. Kavik's chest tightened at the memory of how young he had been when he and Liri had found him. Had he known his father to be dead then? It was incredibly difficult for the alpha to imagine such a young boy shouldering such a heavy burden on his own. Should he have pushed him harder to speak about his past? Kavik pushed the question away--he knew he couldn't have pushed Illidan to talk about anything he didn't want to. It was beside the point now, anyway. There was little the alpha could do about the past.
Kavik wasn't surprised he wanted to leave with his mother--he had said basically as much to him not that long ago. So, when Illidan glanced to him, Kavik gave him a brief nod, his expression only encouraging.
He nodded again to Caiaphas' promise.
You do not owe me anything,he said.
I'm just glad he found even part of his family.Kavik turned to Illidan then, his face faltering just a little before he got it under control.
Take care of yourself and stay in touch.He smiled a little at the young man he would always consider family, but said nothing more. He refused to say goodbye because he would see Illidan again.
He would remain at the borders until he was alone again before finally turning to head back into the trees.
RE: open your heart to it - Illidan - February 13, 2019
okay i'm gonna archive this post <333 ily guys
home…
it wasn’t as though illidan had been without a home. kavik and liri had made sure that he knew their home was just as much his. he had never felt unwelcome on their lands, or in their care. they had done everything they could to make sure he had a pleasant experience. they gave him a place to live after he had been without one for many months. they had given him love when he had none left in his body. and they had asked for nothing in return.
caiaphas’ invitation to return was bittersweet. he felt as though he owed a great debt to the dark man and his pale mate. he believed that he could not walk through life taking without offering something back. even his father had worked for the food that had been given to him. he had fought and killed to earn his keep, and he had worn that burden well. illidan had done nothing substantial with his life, and he had taken… and taken.
“i’ll come back to visit…” he spoke softly, glancing over his shoulder one last time at the plateau and the place he had called home. the young ghost did not believe that he could ever wash away the memories of his time with kavik and liri. as trying as they had been, he never believed that he was worth all of the effort they had given. one day, he would return their favor to him – in one way or another.