Strangers Like Me [Harps] [FIN]

[Lucca]

Eldy shrugged. "Well, apparently there's at least one peach tree in this place, since that's why my mom was named that. Her mom saw the tree growing outside her window when she needed a name." She shook her head a bit. Perhaps that was where Peaches had inherited some of her crazy from...hopefully, if it was genetic, Xiven had gotten all those genes. Then again, considering their Father had also been crazy...aw crap.

"No one really understands politics, they just get good at pretending," Eldy commented sagely. Her ear pricked forward in curiosity as the Rat said something about her father and then abruptly clammed up. She understood not trusting someone with certain information, but that didn't stop her from being curious about what was being hidden from her, now that she was aware of what there was to hide.

"Your father doesn't have much faith in you, then?" she guessed, crouching and then pouncing gracefully onto a nearby stump of a tree that had not been so lucky as the one Dania was under, turning to face the Rat, eyes slightly brighter with curiosity.

[Harpsdesire]

"Well then, she's lucky it was a peach tree and not a kumquat tree..." Dania covered her mouth with one paw and sniggered. "Eheh, sorry." She cleared her throat and composed herself quickly. "Um, no offense or anything." The rat tried to smile, but it came out almost like a grimace. Awkward...

She picked up her book of poems, idly running one claw over the embossed title on the spine. "That.. actually explains a lot." The court life was sounding worse all the time. Oh, well. Dania knew she would probably end up inheriting her father's line of work-- he owned a small, cozy bookstore that specialized in local authors and books about the region. It was a reliable, respectable line of work, and well-suited to her personality and rank.

Dania's focus returned to the cat when Eldy asked the expected question. "He doesn't have much faith in, well, anything." She made a soft sound, part snort, part sigh. "Don't get me wrong, he's a good dad, and I know he loves me, but... I guess I'm not what he wanted in a kid. He figures that I won't amount to much."

Her whiskers drooped, and the melancholy which was so typical in the region painted itself clearly across her face. "Since the rest of my litter died, he figures I have an extra curse, as if one wasn't enough."

[Lucca]

Eldy actually laughed at that, though the sound was cut abruptly short as she slapped a paw over her mouth. It had sounded too loud and shrill in a place like this, and she could feel as if the darkness was physically pressing in even worse after that brief burst of merriment. Guh. Still, the thought of her mother being named 'Kumquats'...she sniggered.

Eldy nodded, figuring they were probably done taking about Court life for right then. She could say more, lower the Rat's opinion of the Courts to an even worse degree, but the attitude of despair was already heavy on both of them, and there was no need to feed it by getting into some of the darker aspects of the Court.

She settled in on the stump, tail twitching idly. She let out a low hiss of sympathy and surprise. Seems she wasn't the only one with 'daddy issues'. "Well that sucks. What did he want in a child, then?" Her eyes went again to the odd binding, that long tail wrapped so tightly up. "An extra curse?" Her eyebrow went up. That seemed a very odd way to react to something like that. To her it would make more sense if the one who survived was considered more fortunate, not more cursed.

[Harpsdesire]

Dania was pleased that she had made the feline laugh, although the sound seemed foreign and strange. It occured to her how infrequenly she heard someone laugh out loud, without irony or mocking cruelty. Eldy seemed to bring a tiny wisp of fresher air into the heavy atmosphere.

The small sound of sympathy seemed to only deeped Dania's depression. "He wanted a son, a Canine like him. Someone to take hunting and do 'man stuff', I suppose. He wanted his children to be clever enough to be sent to Esterberry for schooling." It appeared that the weight of the past was pushing down on her until the rat's pointed muzzle was almost on the ground. "Yes, when I was born, along with two canine brothers, my parents couldn't bear to pierce or chain me, at least so my mother said, so they bound me this way." She gestured to her uncomfortable tail-wrapped leg. "Then, a short time after the three of us were bound, my brothers in the more traditional way, they both got horribly ill and passed away in the night. The doctors said it may have been an allergy to the metal used in their bindings. My father always felt it should have been me, and that if they hadn't been so 'lenient' about binding me, my brothers would have survived." Dania frowned, a trace of old anger and resentment bubbling to the surface, "It seems he feels I got off easy." She wiggled the toes of her painfully bound leg and scowled. "He's terribly supersticious, and takes the Torquehelm curse very seriously."

The rat was silent for a moment, then added, "But he's still a good man, a good father. He's always cared for me and raised me with kindness. Don't let my story ruin your opinion of him. I'm just sorry that I'm such a dissapointment. And I kinda wish he and mom could have figured out a less awkward way to bind me. Heh."

[Lucca]

Eldy's ear went back and she frowned. This was reminding her more and more of her Father, and the reasons he had for liking Lior over Xiven. The reasons he would have hated her were different, extreme...and something else entirely. But he'd liked Lior because he was male, a Highlander...whereas Xiven was female and Torque. But in personality, he approved of her sister far more than her half-brother. "That's...rather awful," she admitted, hesitatingly reaching a paw out, half withdrawing it, and then completing the motion and resting it on the Rat's shoulder. "I'm sorry about your brothers, and the fact that your father can't realize what he's got may be better than what he thinks he wants." She did nothing to expand on this somewhat ambiguous statement, though she nodded a bit.

"I believe you. I'm sure he beat my father in kindness. Though that wouldn't take much." She frowned, wondering how much she should go into it, but it only seemed fair now that Dania had opened up. "My father was...the Court torturer. He favored my half brother over my sister just because of his gender and region. Highland elitism." She shook her head. "As for me...well, let's put it this way...he was the reason I had to be hidden, because if he'd found out about my existence I would probably not be standing here." She was actually able to say this calmly. It had just been a fact of life growing up, though it did bother her that she never got to meet her Father, especially now that he was gone...and now she was emoing about that again. Gah. Idly, she shuffled, moving her own binding a bit over the ground. She had thought since she first saw the Rat that her binding would rather suck. Must be hard to keep her balance and... "It looks painful, though...doesn't your foot lose feeling? It looks tight."

[Harpsdesire]

Dania flinched slightly at the touch of Eldy's paw-- not because it was unpleasant, but from surprise. She had been lost in her own thoughts and didn't notice her new companion's movement. "That's nice of you to say, Eldy." She smiled sadly and put her own paw up to rest over Eldy's. She wasn't sure she really understood the cat's meaning, but the kind intentions were clear. "Thanks."

She felt rather vulnerable with a near-stranger so close, but Dania didn't dare move. She was listening intently, and it seemed to her that any sudden moves would startle Eldy into silence, ending her softly-spoken story. "That's... wow. I'm sorry." The rat moved her paw up to cover Eldy's.

"Well, it's a funny thing-- It is rather painful, but it's always been that way, so I don't usually think about it. The Binder's curse relaxes at night, so I can stretch a little bit after nightfall, and I won't lose feeling in my leg permanently. During the day it does 'fall alseep' sometimes. The worst part, really, is that I tend to fall down a lot, and it's hard to open doors, and other things where I need two front paws. Of course, if I ever get a biped form, I may not be able to walk at all." She sighed. "All in all, it's certainly not as low-key a binding as my father seems to think, but I've seen worse."

[Lucca]

Eldy's whiskers drooped a bit, and an air of melancholy seemed to have overtaken her again, despite her best intentions to not let it get to her. Why not just admit it to herself--she regretted never meeting her Father while she had the chance, plain and simple. If only it had been. Her Mother would never have allowed her that chance, she knew.

"Well. Nothing anyone can do about it now. He's gone, you see," she said softly, hoping the Rat would catch the meaning. She was beginning to find this a painful subject. Maybe it was just the atmosphere here, because usually she could tell people about Pravus without too much emotional pain. Dania could probably have guessed that the other cat was dead from the tenses she was using, but she felt the need to say something.

"Huh. Well that is certainly interesting..." Eldy's ear tilted curiously. She'd never heard of a binding that relaxed before, only to tighten again. Than again, everyone in her family had purely mechanical bindings, though those could get fairly nasty too. "Heh, yeah I can see that. It's not really the worst I've seen, either, though." Eldy thought about the painful-looking head binding on Loretta, the heron she'd met in Capital City, or even that of her nephew, who she'd never met, but...his had been bad enough that he'd actually lost the bound leg and had to get a mechanical replacement recently. And then there was her mother's straightjacket. No, Eldryia knew she had gotten off very easy, in the long run.

[Harpsdesire]

Eldy's pain was almost tangible as she spoke. She seemed resigned, but her tone was not as casual as her words would indicate. "Ah. I'm sorry." Dania gave the cat's paw a quick squeeze before she dropped it, smiling as cheerfully as she could. (Which was admittedly not very.) "I'm sure he would have loved you." In fact, Dania was not at all sure of this, but it seemed like the only suitable response, given how mournful Eldy looked.

Eager to change the gloomy subject, the young rat looked up at the sky, which was suddenly darkening with an even thicker cloud cover as nightfall approached. "I know you've been traveling a while, and maybe you're eager to keep going, but if you need a place to rest a while, I can offer you some dinner and a place to spend the night." A little bashfully, Dania added, "It's probably nothing like what you're used to at court, but uh, my mum is a pretty good cook, and she loves guests. I'm sure you'd be welcome."

((Sorry, I think the strep throat is sapping my creativity/motivation.))

[Lucca]

Eldryia raised an eyebrow slightly at the rat's rather ridiculous (to her) statement. Had Dania not realized the implication of what she had said before about Pravus and how she had to hide from him on fear of death? No matter how much she may wish she had a chance to meet him, the cat was under no illusions just what her father would have thought of her. "Kind of you to say, but he hated anyone who was lower than a Rank 10," she said flatly, indicating the bold red '6' on her chest with her free paw, though she accepted the paw squeeze and lowered her own to the ground again, shifting to look up when Dania did.

"Is it getting darker? Almost hard to tell, here," she muttered absently, almost to herself, but then she turned and gave her best attempt at a smile. "Oh, that would be helpful, actually, thank you. And only the Ranked ones at Court actually get the sort of meals you're thinking of, or guests of the same." She shrugged, this not being something that bothered her, even in this gloomy place that seemed to bring all her doubt rising to the surface. She'd always had enough to eat that she wasn't in danger of going hungry, and that was what mattered. Being on the road also helped her to get used to getting by with less. A home-cooked meal would seem like a feast in comparison. Besides, now that she was looking...it really was getting somehow even darker...

((ooc: No worries! Take your time and hope you feel better soon. <3))

[Harpsdesire]

Dania looked flustered; the reason for Eldy's raised brow was evident. "Ah, haha, that is... if he was to know you, and not be blinded by, by, matters of rank..." She finished lamely, then sighed, her attempted smile fading into sadness once more. "It sounds like he was... not as nice as you." She hoped Eldy wouldn't be offended by this, but it was quickly becoming obvious that avoiding the subject henceforth was the only reasonable way to proceed.

"Yeah, night falls quickly once the sun goes down." She was glad for the distraction of a more neutral topic. "Come with me then, it's only a few minutes' walk. Mum and dad will be pleased to have you visit, I'm sure." She smiled again, more genuinely, as she thought of the delicious meal ahead. "Well, I'd be glad not to be served those fancy things all the time. I can't imagine how the Ranked Cards stay in any sort of shape."

It was a minor struggle to get to her feet, but once she was started, the oddly-bound rat walked quite normally, apparently well-adjusted to walking on three legs.

...

A few minutes later, a neat cottage of moderate size came into view. It had a somewhat scraggly vine of ivy climbing the pale stone foundation, and a curl of white smoke rising from a brick chimney. "Home sweet home!" The rat exclaimed, and for once, it was without a hint of irony.