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+--- Thread: Broken Antler Fen And I'm so sick of crying, yeah (/showthread.php?tid=47801)
And I'm so sick of crying, yeah - Maia - June 22, 2021
for timeline <3 and for childrensss
When Ibis brought her children by for Maia to watch, she did not think much of it. Even when time began to stretch on, she hadn't thought to worry yet; they were old enough to be without their mother for a time, and Maia did not mind watching them and allowing the other mother to have some space. It gave her more to distract her, and she felt slightly better than she had in weeks. She was happy to be able to help someone.
It helped too that @Jasmine and @Diantha and @Roswell were all adorable children. They were slightly older and more rambunctious than either of her two, but she enjoyed their company. And because they were older... well, perhaps they'd appreciate what @Sylvie and @Hymnal hadn't needed quite yet.
Does anyone want to hear a story?she asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the ones who were sleeping. She hadn't felt the urge to tell once since it happened, but despite the ache, she couldn't let her children grow up in a world without stories. Nor Ibis', it seemed.
RE: And I'm so sick of crying, yeah - Eljay - June 23, 2021
Eljay himself was growing a little worried; days stretched out, and wouldn't Ibis have told them if she didn't plan to return any time soon? He felt nervous about it all, but he hadn't told Maia. What use would it be to stress her out? Besides, Eljay tended to get too dramatic about these things. Everything was probably just fine.
Tonight as he sat beside Maia he smiled softly as she offered a story for Ibis' children. Meanwhile, he fussed over Sylvie and Hymnal. They were free to listen too, of course, but weren't at an age yet where they could truly appreciate storytime as much as Ibis' children could, so Eljay figured that he'd amuse them while he hung back and let Maia tell a story.
RE: And I'm so sick of crying, yeah - Hymnal - June 24, 2021
Hymnal had no idea what was happening. She registered a few presences she didn't recognize, and she felt uneasy about it. But besides being more fussy than normal, she had no other way of expressing how she was feeling or why she was feeling that way.
Thankfully, dad had provided her with enough of a distraction that she had started to calm some. That and she could hear mom's soothing voice. She never knew what she was saying, but the tone always made her feel safe.
The front half of her body was perched on her father's front leg while she peered up at him with bleary, puppy blue eyes. Her vision wasn't the greatest, but she could make out the shapes that made up his blob of color. She squeaked a little, wanting his attention.
RE: And I'm so sick of crying, yeah - Maia - June 25, 2021
this was originally set for day of, but adjusting! Bc this makes more sense <3
The first night, Maia had known Ibis should have returned by now. She knew that it was likely nothing good had happened, but Maia didn't have the space for more. She couldn't take another loss like that, so while she sensed the quiet worry that suffused the den, she chose to ignore it. If she didn't have the kids she could have gone to look for her niece, but right now the best thing she could do was take care of the children while others dealt with the rest.
Once upon a time there was a dragon who couldn't quite fly yet. Her parents promised that someday soon she would, but as all of her friends went to flight training, she had to stay behind. Instead, she chose to spend her days swimming in the nearby sea. Her wings might be too small for flight, but she was an excellent swimmer. She'd even made friends with a few of the bigger fish beneath the waves.
Maia glanced over towards Eljay and smiled, seeing him playing with Sylvie and Hymnal. Not only was it adorable, but Maia appreciated it a lot. Five kids was a lot to keep track of, especially with these older ones. She'd been patient as they asked, endlessly, where Ibis was. But Diantha had started to get a little tricky to deal with as time passed.
Hopefully she could get through this story, though.
After a while, she even started to dread getting her wings, if it meant she couldn't swim anymore. Her parents always seemed to feel sorry for her but she was happy under the water and didn't really care anymore about flying. Flying was something everyone else did, but swimming was new.
A small cry from Hymnal drew her eyes that way, and she smiled in the pause before continuing.
Her fish friends showed her amazing places, colorful underwater forests and fields of sparkling ocean flowers. Before long she was spending more time below the water than above.
Her parents got angry with her, and one night, they closed her in the cave that they shared. 'Dragons belong in the sky. You'll never learn if you spend all your time in the water.' She pleaded with them and told them she was happier there, but they wouldn't listen. After that night, she wasn't allowed to swim until she'd learned how to fly.
She wasn't sure where she was going with this story, and she found herself growing distracted. Where is your mother? What if she'd hurt herself, or gotten in trouble, or gotten lost? What if...
She lost the story thread entirely. Something about the image of the girl closed in a cave had, somehow, aggravated the worries that she was burying deep. As her pause stretched on and she tried to find it again, she felt an odd tightness in her chest. Panic?
What do you think she did next?she asked. There was no way she'd get an answer; they hadn't been cooperating all that well so far. But she had to try because she was drawing a major, major blank right now, and this feeling of suddenly drowning in her own story was not one she liked.
RE: And I'm so sick of crying, yeah - Eljay - June 25, 2021
Eljay wasn't entirely sure how much such young children would notice, with having more pups in the den right now. He hoped that it wouldn't make Hymnal or Sylvie uneasy, but he could tell that they were a little more fussy than normal. Then again, they were so young; perhaps he was just trying to find problems where there were none. Eljay smiled at Maia as she started the story, but soon his attention was taken by Hymnal squeaking.
What's wrong, baby girl?he asked softly and quietly as he leaned down and nuzzled her face lovingly.
The story he followed only halfway, because there were Sylvie and Hymnal to worry about. Besides that, @Diantha seemed to be blatantly disinterested in the story. Not in a 'I'm doing something else right now' way, but in that she turned her back to the others and Maia actively with a mopy frown on her face. Eljay wanted to ask her to join in, but he was afraid of the backlash. Then again, he couldn't keep avoiding this forever, right? He hoped that Ibis would return soon, but he was worried that she might not; and anyway, he wouldn't be a very good puppysitter if he just totally ignored these troubles to let their mother deal with them.
Eljay could tell that Maia was getting nervous, though he wasn't sure why. She was doing great so far, even if the pups who were listening weren't the best audience; but then, young pups rarely were, as they were easily distracted. @Roswell looked mopy and bored, though he was at least facing Maia through it all, and he didn't respond to her question. Diantha just let out a loud unimpressed hmph as she rolled her eyes. Eljay frowned and he hesitated to say anything, but the behaviour was just on the edge where it wasn't so bad he needed to do something right now, but it was clearly bothering Maia. But what could he do? Eljay lifted his nose from Hymnal's face and said,
The fish came to rescue her?in hopes of encouraging the others to say something, or at the very least, offer Maia a continuation of the story.
RE: And I'm so sick of crying, yeah - Jasmine - June 27, 2021
Jasmine moped, but for once she couldn't rival Diantha. Her fussy sister had become a terror overnight, stealing a spot that had been hers, up until now.
At first, Jasmine had wailed when mama had left them, as she'd always done. But as the night turned into a new day, and more hours passed between mama's leaving and the present hour, Jasmine was at a loss. She moped, but for once she couldn't rival Diantha. Her fussy sister had become a terror overnight, stealing a spot that had been hers until now, and Jasmine couldn't figure out how she felt about that.
Auntie Maia had no answers for them either, no matter how much she or her siblings badgered her. Ibis had left for a little while, and would be back again - but something nagged her... and Jasmine wasn't so sure.
The energy that eeked from Diantha and Roswell felt heavy, and filled the den with something like the clouds right before it rained. Jasmine had only watched the rain once, but once was enough to give her this understanding.
Unlike the rainclouds, she thought Maia and Eljay much like the sun. They radiated something warm, and Jasmine felt in an emotional tug-of-war - even though, for a pup her age, she had no way to describe the empathy she was feeling or any way to deal with her emotions in a mature and productive way.
But she did know that being near Diantha and Roswell made her very sad and that being closer to Maia or Eljay, or one of their daughters, brought her feelings she couldn't even remember feeling when mama had held her. None of this made sense, so Jasmine sat on her own, well enough away from all of them.
Jasmine didn't know what a dragon was. She only knew what swimming was because she'd asked about fish once, after Livia had brought mama some to eat. She only knew what flying was because she'd watched the birds fly when she'd wait in the den entrance for mama to come back. But Jasmine knew how the dragon felt, because she had felt those things, too. And tears pricked her eyes now -- no longer crocodile, like the ones she'd shed countless days before -- but real, as she considered... maybe mama had left them here to teach them a lesson, too.
A long silence stretched in the den. Roswell and Diantha offered no answer, and when she looked toward them through blurry eyes, they didn't seem like they'd really been listening at all. Only Uncle Eljay seemed to want to know the ending of the story. Maybe what he said was what actually happened. Maybe it was silly to say anything else.
But Jasmine said, "maybe she said sorry and everything was okay," and she gave every effort to give something more than a squeak. Even still, her voice felt small. She didn't feel so silly though, and she glanced at Uncle Eljay to see what he thought of her answer.
RE: And I'm so sick of crying, yeah - Maia - June 27, 2021
This was a mistake. It was too soon and the pups were too upset. Of course it was stupid to be telling them stories right now, especially about parents. She never knew the right thing to do, always caught up in childish things like this.
Maia felt a pang of pure hurt when that thought crossed because it was such a disservice to the memory of her sister. If there was one thing she and Wraen had always agreed on, it was that stories were more than that.
This entire situation was horrible. Maia was contemplating if she should just.... excuse herself for a moment when Eljay spoke up, and she looked at him as gratefully as someone reaching for a lifeline. She hadn't even fully realized he'd been listening. She was just about to open her mouth when another voice spoke up from the side, a little ways away. Jasmine.
Oh gosh. That reply tugged at her heart strings in a completely different way, one that Maia didn't expect. She looked at the pup and immediately knew that something about the story had stuck out to her. Immediately the storyteller blended with the mother in her and she smiled warmly, nodding. She knew how the story would end now. It was perfect.
You're right.She answered, shifting subtly in a way that hopefully would invite Jasmine wordlessly to come in closer. Then she glanced over at Eljay silently, nervous and hoping that this was right. Everything was so much harder now.
It took a while, but she began to feel badly about the way things had happened. Her parents didn't understand, all they knew was that when she was in the sea, she wasn't with them. She hadn't realized before how much she was gone until that night when she discovered that she did miss them. And maybe they missed her too.
So the next morning, when they came, she told them. She apologized, but she also told them about the ocean, about the friends she'd made and how beautiful it was. How much she loved it and how good it made her feel, being down there and not having to worry about if she'd ever be able to fly. And then she asked if they, maybe, wanted to meet her friends too.
When she'd started the story, the dragon's parents had been somewhat faceless as characters. But she couldn't help, now, thinking of her own parents as she told this end. About how they'd reacted when she had told them about wanting to go. And then, Eljay and Weejay and their parting.
They had thought she was just avoiding them; they didn't realize how happy it made her. And when they visited and saw for themselves what it was like, and that she had such great friends, they never tried to make her stay again. They apologized too, and together they all lived happily, visiting often and sharing stories from sea and sky.
It really was a way better ending than it would have been if she made it more interesting. The parents could have been the villains, but that wasn't what they needed right now. And, honestly, it wasn't what Maia needed either.
RE: And I'm so sick of crying, yeah - Hymnal - July 28, 2021
Dad quickly obliged to her request for attention, his words making a comforting warmth spread over her. She was no longer worried about all the unknowns around her. Staring up at Eljay, the needy pup placed her tiny paw on his leg. She watched him for a few moments as he spoke to mom and then she shuffled over and nestled into the soft fur of his chest.
A soft sigh moved from her chest and her gaze moved over to mom. Hymnal watched her closely as she spoke. The words meant nothing to her yet, but she liked the soothing sound of Maia's voice. It was easy to forget her anxiety now, and she was content to stay snuggled up to dad as she watched mom and listened to her speak.
RE: And I'm so sick of crying, yeah - Eljay - July 30, 2021
Despite the trying times, Eljay could not help but smile softly, contently when Hymnal shuffled towards his chest and nestled herself there. He touched his nose softly to her face before looking up again to listen to the story. Jasmine meanwhile had offered an alternate ending that was better than Eljay's own, and he looked at Maia as she continued the story.
When Maia finished the story Eljay smiled warmly at her.
What a great story,he commented encouragingly.