Ravensblood Forest you be talkin hella tough on twitter, pull the fuck up

ive given up on thread titles lmao sorry @Damien & @Nocturnal

 

He roams to nowhere in particular, though he feels the familiar itch of undisposed bloodlust in every step he takes onward. Vaati has needed to reign himself in since aligning himself with Rusalka... for the time being. If not for the fleeting bouts of sex and sparring he does not doubt his limit would have been reached long ago. Truly, the blame could only be placed on him for creating a habit that was so inconvenient to fulfil - like an addict without the means to continue their self-destructive tendencies though they yearned for it so intensely. In that sense, he internally willed for his time in Blackfeather to return for at least then, he could once again live as an individual blissfully ignorant of how he would pay for the price of his actions. Unknowingly, he lopes straight in the direction of figures from his past, people whom he owed and abandoned and who would call upon him to speak for his crimes. Had he known, not even he would ever know if he would have chosen to turn around. Perhaps he simply wanted the last remnants of Blackfeather to burn, and its proprietors alongside it - perhaps he wanted them to know it. Or, maybe not. It was difficult to say what blood truly meant to him anymore when it was blood that had caused him the more pain than his scars had.

PPing @Nyx to get us here
Sorry for the wait @Vaati, let's bump this up to present day

The territories bordering The Weald were plenty and thrilling even covered in snow. Damien knew they were close to the ocean, but he hadn't realized how much until he took Nyx on a field trip beyond their shiny new borders. In the distance, just a bit ways down the wilderness laid the vast blue he barely remembered, and Damien intended to be the one to take his lover there for the first time. He tried, but the scent of claimed land came between them and their destination, so they were forced to walk further east than he would have wanted. Losing track of the coast among the trees Damien and Nyx ended up in a foreboding forest of tall, ominous trees. But it wasn't the blood covering them or the eerie cackling of ravens and gyrfalcons that caught Damien's keen eye. It was the looming shape of white in the distance, coming forth from the mist to reveal the handsome, yet heavily scarred face of none of other than his nefarious nephew. Would you look at that... said the demon king in a low, rugged voice to his lover before Vaati came within hearing range. And once he did, Damien fell silent. Everything was said with his eyes, cold, unforgiving and highly disappointed. But that was what he got for trusting the most rotten of apples that came out of his sister's womb, and that was saying something.

He smelled his uncle before he saw him, sensing the foreboding presence creep forth before words were spoken. Vaati turns to meet desolate eyes, optics that expect him to grovel but are due to be sorely mistaken. “Damien.” The behemoth of a man returns the stale gaze, lacking many emotions behind the intensity of his glare. If the other wished to confront him, he may do so, and Vaati would welcome the challenge. Perhaps pushing along the cadence of the conversation, he follows up, “Where have you been?” At the back of his mind he wonders if his words will stir an anger within the other, based solely on the irony of his question. He then turns to Nyx, giving her a passing glance before returning to his uncle. He could not say he missed either of them, not like he could say the same about Cassiopeia or Maegi - for his fidelity had been brief and infrequent. Vaati’s loyalty is a difficult thing to acquire, and when one believes they have, they should question whether they truly have done so at all.

The prodigy son had turned out to be more demon than wolf, and Damien had failed to see it all the time. Paradoxical as it may be, Vaati's streak for chaos had been the downfall of Meldresi's bastion, and now it was evident to him that his nephew was anything but a Melonii. Damien met the words that came out of the pale behemoth's mouth with a sharp chuckle, he was unbelievable.

What do you care? he spat coldly, and the stare never wavered. It was clear Damien was hurt and disappointed, and many more things were made obvious through his eyes. He had deposited a great deal of trust in his sister's son the way he would have wanted to be trusted at his age, but he supposed yo never really got what was fair or needed, only what you got. Vaati had chosen to break a promise and leave his family stranded, and while they didn't really need him to build what they had already built Damien had only ever wanted to start his pack for his family to have a real place to belong. In his decisions, Vaati had chosen to not be a part of that family, and he would be dealt with accordingly.

Vaati chuckles sardonically at his uncle's anger. He had promised nothing to them. He had made no unbreakable vows, nor pledges to their cause. The only thing that had motivated him to follow them was the blood they shared, and now, his blood lied in Rusalka. "Why so serious, uncle?" His head cocks to the side a fraction, arching an inquisitive brow. Of course, he is aware why Damien feels the need to treat him with such hostility, but it is in error. "It is merely a question." He chides, pale eyes seeking to meet the other's vicious glare. 

A part of him likes the air of confrontation that surrounds their present encounter, enjoying the light thrill of tension which indicates a brawl to follow. Not that he enjoys spilling the blood of his family, but there is an untouched hatred within him for the matriarchs of Blackfeather Woods, associating much of his family with the ruins of his early life. Perhaps, that too is misplaced and he is no better than Damien. But neither is the one to pay much attention to common sense when he would rather lick his lips and snarl.

The laughter only gets Damien even angrier, and now he's struggling to conceal his emotions to Vaati. His lip twitches suddenly, but Damien holds back a snarl. Damien was not a wolf to mess with, he had proven that several times before and would do it as many times as it took for the world to understand how seriously Damien took every single word he chose to speak. But Vaati was a tricky subject. There was still love for his nephew somewhere in his heart, and he would always be entitled to the Melonii name. Damien couldn't just lash out and risk killing him, for his sister's sake, who he still had hopes of seeing again in the future. It wouldn't be easy to start their next conversation trying to explain how and why he'd killed her son, so Damien made an extra effort to hold his urges.

You really want to know? Said Damien after gathering enough peaceful thoughts to vocalize. We've been doing exactly what we said we would, and we expected you to do the same. he spoke. An accusation, a reprimand, a declaration of disappointment. He had high hopes in his nephew since they first found each other back then, but he hadn't really known the nature of Vaati at that point. After speaking he took his time to stare down at the younger male to make his displeasure unmistakable, and then with a mimich of Vaati's own cynical smile he asked, what about you, nephew?

No doubt he had struck a nerve. 

Vaati rolls his eyes as the words tumble from his uncle's mouth. "You forget that I do not answer to you. My interest in reviving the rotting corpse of Blackfeather Woods's legacy has expired." There was no other explanation, his interests simply lied elsewhere. He had lived too long for the flourishment of others, and in return, had only suffered for it. Rusalka was a future too valuable to abandon where he was not plagued by the failures of his past. Though realigning himself with the values of the dark woods would liberate what restraint was placed on him, unshackling the chains which prevented him from committing acts unacceptable in any other setting than daedric culture... following Damien's pursuits would be a constant reminder of everything that had gone wrong. Not even blood was worth his pride. 

"My home is now the coast ... which may disappoint you, but your expectations of me mean less than dirt."  He says so with confident ease, without a flicker of hesitation. It is then he realises that one of the only things he is proficient in is making enemies of valuable allies, and even so, he cannot bring himself to care. The Melonii were his family by blood, but he will not be looked upon as if he owed them any more than he has already given.

Damien met his nephew's insolence with a soft growl, fed up with is family's inclination to disappointing him, but he did not press any further. He really didn't expect anything else from Vaati at this point, having estranged him from his family long ago, after weeks of hopeful waiting. This was why Damien had to take matters in his own hands, because no one cared about what it meant to be a Melonii like him, no one knew how important it was.

There are no expectations, Vaati. Not anymore. said the dark star with a coarse voice, at the breaking point of a growl. There wasn't much else to say despite how much (or little) Damien thought of his sister's son, so he nudged his lover to turn away without another word and gave Vaati one last good scowling look before turning around himself. There was no place for him with The Melonii clan anymore, and so even explaining where they were settled was pointless, and even risky.

Damien’s answer was not what he expect to hear - it bothers him. Others lack of expectations of him are something he internally despises, knowing he has tried and failed on many occasion to fulfill roles expected. ”Then there is nothing left to say.” The titans merely shrugs, before turning a shoulder to depart the other’s company. Only time would tell if they ever reunited once more, but neither would Vaati deliberately seek his uncle  for any personal reason; the man could offer him nothing he desired. 

However, there seemed to be the misconception that the older male had any authoritative capacity to disown Vaati from the bloodline - something the pale one picked up on as the interaction progressed. Vaati would forever be a Melonii, a claim that could not be revoked as long as it’s blood ran through his veins. Perhaps, the time would come yet again to make such a point known. Perhaps not.