Blackfeather Woods when churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out

despite enjoying a less-than-lucid state, the news that both his children and their mother were alive managed to keep him grounded, pulling him closer to reality and farther from emerging psychosis. however, the revelation that he was not in fact, endured by the company of cassiopeia but a sister of his, caused a small furrow to develop on his brow. confusion laces his tone, "maegi? she lives by the sea." she couldn't be here. maegi hated him. he could do no right... though he had tried, he had continually made unforgivable mistakes which, strand-by-strand, severed the bond between them. perhaps he could attempt to blame the curse of ill-mannered youth on all he had lost, but truthfully, he had been someone that even he would wish death upon. much of what he did and said was inexcusable and he knew it. though, he would not grovel -- he was not there yet. prying his eyes open, vaati attempts to force himself to his feet, or at least to a mere sit, and comes face to face with the marred visage of someone he knows to be his younger sister.

"oh. maegi" he breathes out, but makes no move to greet her. 

"Did Damien send you?"

vaati growls lowly, recalling the arrogant taunts of the estranged uncle. how he had expected vaati to so willingly bow at his feet and lay fealty to cause purely out of shared blood reeked of an arrogance that put more than a sour taste in his mouth. at the time, he had seen it as a challenge, and there was nothing more the former titan detested than inferior men acting under the guise of superiority. "damien, lord of nothing." if he could spit, he would have. "i am no pawn of his." his eyes began to regain clear vision; the heat building in his veins as he continued to recall all that he despised brought forth a willpower he could not acquire in any other fashion. "i've come here for my children only." vaati says so with familiar confidence, unwavering in tone. damien, his bitch, and whatever similarly dimwitted offspring they produced were not his concern.