Two Eyes Cenote reina

made some assumptions because i was snooping a thread <3 @Safiya

for a small pack, soto has to compliment their organization. the guards don't miss a beat.

he hasn't seen the man that dragged him here return - he wonders if he's pulling a page out of the brother's book; good cop, bad cop, absent cop -- leaving their victim wondering and in shambles. but he's used to this disabuse, and doesn't think too hard about his situation.

a shadow leans across the door. soto props himself up to lazily regard the shapes cast against the wall.

Safiya still held the marks of her sisters teeth. She didn't wipe the blood off. Instead she stomped towards the prison amd studied thr man inside when she made it.

She was unsure how to approach this their language being an issue. 

What did you do to my sister? Sister.

She held up a paw about how as tall her sister was and waited. Eyes Glacial and also unsure. Waiting.

a storm of emotions enters the cell. soto stiffens, noticing the fray of disturbed hair and blood on safiya's pelt.

he presses against the cage's bars. saff-eeya, his gold-rimmed eyes rest upon her in concern. ¿que paso? he sees her gesture and his brows knit -- the height in which her paws rest do not give him enough context. he had last seen her storm out after hearing her father speak to her in tones so icy they dripped with malice -- and it is then a cold realization settles in soto's chest.

the same rough hands that make him prisoner must also strike their daughters. he sits back with a shaky exhale, given new motive to hate khusobek.

he's an adorable hypocrite/drug dealer lol by hypocrote i mean because obviously he is no stranger to violence.

He says her name with thr same concern he always has. And for a moment she wavers in her insistence. But a part of her that can't let go intensifies.

Tiye. Tiye. You? she points at him again and says her sisters name and makes the same height gesture. Soto?

She would have been horrified had she known he thought her father would harm them. He was not a warm man, but he also would not hurt them like that.

safiya says something back -- soto misconstrues it as ti -- but horribly butchered. he looks to her, then to her articulating paws, then back to her face, confusion writ clear across his face.

ti? and then, he swallows. what was the other girl's name -- had it been ti -- tiye? his brow furrows once more. saff-eeya. he repeats, trying to understand the various emotions swirling around her tumultuous form.  ¿qué ocurre?

A chink in her armor this man. Someone she had hoped to count as afriend, in a small way did. Despite that she did not know much of him or his mannerisms. He had treated her kindly. Made her feel valued. Taught her the way he spoke so lyrically. Would he have done that to her sister? Or was it another way for Tiye to hurt her. She could no longer tell. 

She tilted her bloodied side. Tiye. Tiye. Sister. mm mfamily.

She was able to put together that he was asking what happened or what was wrong, based on the facial expressions alone.

Que ocurre Tiye?

these wolves and their words! were it not for how tenderly soto viewed safiya, he would be impatient -- but safiya is to him a gentle, kindling flame -- her innocence and purity to be protected at all costs.

he studies her a long time, working through the heavy ropes that barricade any attempt at communication. how could he reconcile the ugliness inside of him when something so dazzling like her existed? and how could he explain the ugliness he channeled into its waiting chambers like a bullet. how could he explain the care in which he'd taken aim, holding tiye in his malicious view?

they'd fought, this much he could tell. had tiye also felt the lash of her father? soto didn't realize the true intention of safiya's question, and instead, misunderstood it as the girl asking if he'd seen khusobek beat tiye himself.

he scuttles forward rapidly, to press himself against the cave's barricade. saff-eeya, the python urges as his eyes search her earnestly -- where else had her father abused her? mi dulce lluvia de verana. yo mismo mataré a tu padre. a dark promise that took its first gestational heartbeat within soto's convoluted soul.

Safiya did not understand how there was such a chasm deep divide. As she sought to speak and be spoken too. She wanted to learn this language so she could ask what his listing words said. So she could ask why her father hated him amd why Tiye was scared of him.

She stares back. The sea green of her gaze not giving one iota of an inch. Maybe her intensity is not a good thing. But she had it for a reason. 

Safiya knew there were bad seeds,bad eggs, bad wolves. But ahe also firmly believed that you were innocent until proven guilty. But how could ones guilt be measured.

Safiya moved only slightly closer and she did not understand. But his words wre repeated. He has said some of that before but what did it mean. 

She wagged a little against the wall. This night had been full of emotional turmoil and it was so long.

those eyes! sea-green framed in such sombre red. to read such emotions on her face is like observing an oilspilll; black paint dripping down a timeless piece of art. soto finds he hates seeing such emotions burden her. she is too young -- the light inside her too treasured to be sullied by the foils of men.

he looks away, licking his lips apprehensively. his time here was intended as penance, punishment even -- but all the shackles did was further bind his obsession towards safiya; perla of muat-riya.

despite the hammering of his heart, he dares not touch her. but he wishes desperately in this moment he could give her another flower, and watch her joy chase those shadows away.

Safiya was young and unsure of the attentions of others. After all she had only ever wanted one thing and she had attained it. Even if her sister continued to try and tear it apart.

For a moment she wishes she was anywhere but here right now. There were no answers to be had. And she was not supposed to be here anymore. She heard the changing of the guard.

She bent her head and stared into his dark eyes trying to see the truth she saw nothing. But her ear twitched. They were coming. So she said what she thought was a goodbye that he had taught her.

vaya con dios, Soto

Then she swiftly curled into the shadows and headed towards the surface. No closer to answers than before.

he can only hold the intensity of her gaze for so long. for a child, her eyes are sharp - hawk’s eyes set in a face of girlish red.

she speaks his language, a farewell twisted by something unsaid. hes robbed of the joy he might feel hearing it given the situation.

adios, mi pequeña perla. he leans back as her footsteps fade down the hall. for the first time since his incarceration, he sinks against the wall and closes his eyes.