Hushed Willows you're gonna be a long time

loooong overdue fambly thread!! aw tho

like rising from a thousand year long slumber, delight emerges, and finds himself surrounded by kind company. he has been nothing and nowhere, resigned to drifting dreamlessly through the months, letting heat give way to snow without notice. it is easier to hide down in his corner and shoulder shame without confronting anything than to deal with.. any of it. with alarian's abrupt departure and queenie's crashing through him and solomon's disappearance, delight thinks its a wonder there's any of him left at all.

well. he's rebuilt before. he can rebuild again.

there is a pack around him and there are two children of his that probably wonder why their parent is so removed from them -- so he goes to collect @Brilliance and @Mali, no real plan in mind besides 'be available as company to them.'

Mali happens to be very far off in a hardly-traveled corner of the territory.  It's basically the only place he can make sure that the dumb babies will leave him alone.  He doesn't do much over there, just hang out, rest.  Blah blah.  It's not very exciting but he just doesn't want to deal with them.  He's fine with Brilliance being around, but he no longer cared if he was off by himself.

Mali doesn't have a pack, he has a couple of family members, an empty spot for the third, and a group of people that seem to treat him like dirt.  Okay, there's a fairly sizable group of people that probably don't care whether he exists in the first place.  They've just ignored him.  Maybe it's preferable.  And after whatever scolding happens because of the meeting, he isn't even sure if Delight should count as someone on his side. But either way, he's not happy and hasn't been for some time, and just simply being here only makes it worse.  

If Delight actually hunts him down, Mali can be found at the base of yet another tree, looking sour.  Otherwise he'll just continue his secluded day on his own.

she’d eaten something that morning from a frozen cache and a few hours later, she’s throwing it up with a broken sob interrupting her heaving. her belly sucks in around her abdomen and her ribs are far more apparent than they had been before. throwing up the meal doesn’t even make her feel better and she bites back another cry, sniffling a little and lifting her head.
 
much like her brother, her time is spent by herself. she’s noticed papa’s reclusiveness but it’s only because he’s mad at them, or disappointed, or something. they’re not good enough together, especially without solomon, or their mom, or this stupid pack. she sighs and sinks down, taking long and staggering breaths.
 
when she notices delight in the distance, she blinks back her wet gaze and sniffles away as much sadness as she can before he gets close enough to see her.

he finds brilliance first, his gaze lingering on her visible ribs with concern -- there's no reason, as far as he knows, for her to be underfed; the pack is doing well despite him. "brillo," delight calls softly, afraid, maybe, to upset her with his presence, to damage her any more than he already has. after a moment he swallows that fear and moves closer, reaching out to gently press against the crown of her head, if she'll allow, adding, "do you want to take a walk with me and talk? maybe we can find your brother, too?" 

it's a start.

one ear swivels as he says her name and her hollowed gaze watches him approach. when he’s close enough, she lowers her head and flattens her ears, eyes closing and leaning into his nose as he touches the top of her head. she’s hardly seen him, lately, and she does not understand why their family is falling apart as fast as it is. without solomon or queenie, what are there? hardly a family.
 
she releases a shaky breath and slowly nods, adjusting herself and clearing her throat.
 
“i think i know where he is,” she says and begins to direct them in the course of her wayward brother.

brilliance probably knows @Mali better than he does at this point. in a selfish weird way he's glad they have each other at least, because lord knows he's not been much to either of them. they've struggled to adapt to all the change he's subjected them to and he doesn't feel like its his place to force them to accept his friends or to get them to behave a certain way. even if it'd make things easier for him. delight follows her easily, trying not to give in to the urge to make himself as small and sad as possible. brilliance is a child, she doesn't need to manage her father's guilt on top of it all.

"listen, brill," he starts as they walk, "i want to apologise -- to you and to mali, when we find him. um," he breathes, "how are you? how have you been?" are you eating, he nearly asks but stops, worried that's too tactless of a question.

brilliance turns her head a little when he draws for her attention, her head tilting slightly. sure, papa hadn’t been around too much but he’d been sick. he tried, though. “for what?” she questions quietly, looking back the way she was going. briefly, she wonders if she shouldn’t show him their spot but she keeps going, shrugging a little. “i’m okay. i miss solomon,” she adds quietly. she hates she lost her on the way to the willows, unable to remember where she last saw her sister. if anyone needs to apologize, shouldn’t it be her?

she asks for what, surprising him a little. maybe she's just being nice? delight never really got a handle on how to communicate with kids, his or otherwise, considering he spent a large part of their childhood sick and/or absent. well, it's pointless to start lying to them now. 

"i wasn't a very good -- parent," he admits, his ears laying back as she says she misses solomon. gingerly he reaches down to nudge her shoulder. "i miss solomon too," delight says. "i shouldn't have let you two go -- or made you feel like you needed to get away in the first place." he's sure they will come to resent him if they don't resent him already; he doesn't blame them.

brilliance looks down at her feet as delight talks to her, explaining what he’s apologizing for. she’s never thought much about delight’s part in it because it didn’t matter. he was there. he was their father, even when he was sick. queenie had been the one to leave, twice, and now she doesn’t know if solomon left or… or if she’s lost. “i didn’t mean to lose her,” she says, seconds before a sob belts out of her throat.

brilliance is quiet and delight holds his breath, waiting for -- something: condemnation, forgiveness, maybe just acceptance. instead she bursts into sobs and his heart shatters. instinctively delight swoops close, pulling her into his weak embrace, his voice shaking when he speaks. "i know," he says, "you didn't -- it's not your fault, brilliance, i promise." how long has she felt like that? it makes sense, he supposes (and she is his daughter after all) -- foolish of him to not think to comfort her sooner. weak and pathetic. not what she needs right now, so -- he swallows those thoughts back down and holds her, hoping she will believe him.

before she’s able to get everything out, she feels him curl around her. her eyes close and she leans into him. his voice vibrates from his chest and she buries as deep as she can. he says it’s not her fault but she knows that’s not necessarily true. solomon had been with her, following along. she’d gotten excited when she smelled something familiar, dashing off without her. she was supposed to follow! she heaves another sobs and hiccups, shifting her weight and allow him to support her though it is no effort on his part. her thin form shakes as she cries, wishing to curl into a ball so tight she disappears.