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Post by Kari Muffin on Mar 5, 2009 22:13:22 GMT -5
Xiven stared blankly, her tears clearing up enough so she could see the figure of Lior and Rhi. She could feel her heart breaking as she listened to the woman speak. Why had she been so stupid to believe that Rhi had honestly truly loved her. Why had she taken that so for granted even if it wasn't true?
She shook her head in dismay, disbelief, everything. No, she couldn't... deal with all of this right now. She turned away from Lior and Rhi to look at her father's dead body, moving her mother off of her in frustration.
Peaches wasn't sure what to do. But she let go of Xiven with a small squeak. Looking from person to person. What was wrong with Rhi? Why was she acting like that and why was she... leaving? Oh... Highland Hills. Please let this not crush Xiven. He turned to her daughter who was staring at the body of her own father. The purple haired woman shuddered. Oh Pravus, why did you have to go and do that?
She placed a hand lightly on her daughter's shoulder.
"His necklace is missing," Xiven said quietly as she looked at the gaping wound in his neck. He never took it off. What... what...?
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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Mar 5, 2009 22:28:17 GMT -5
Of all of the things that the Reaper had said, only one of them really stuck with Rhiannon. Her Lior was still there, somewhere, and she might be able to pull him back out. Not only that, but he loved her, loved her enough that this cold thing could feel it. A small, lopsided smile tugged at the corners of her muzzle, and her tail wagged ever so slightly even as her head dropped and she whimpered. Yes yes. This was all very good.
From where he stood, Apocalypse very abruptly stepped forward, walking at a brisk pace down the hall. His steps echoed in the eerie silence, and Rhiannon suddenly looked up, as if seeing him for the first time.
"Pale, my souleater,[/b]" she said with a soft laugh, walking over to him and smiling up at him. He looked down at her, touched her face softly, a confused look on his face. Even with their minds connected, he.. he didn't understand. "My Apocalypse. Stay here, where I cannot. Stay with my Queen? She'll.. she'll miss me while I'm gone, and so will the babies. But they can have you, and that'll be almost as good, yes?[/b]" she licked his hands, as he leaned in.
"Rhi, I.. you.. you can't leave me," he whispered, a hint of weakness entering his voice, a waver where it shouldn't have been. Panic, perhaps. "Rhi, you can't go with him, especially not with me." he touched her face, running his thumbs across her fur, his normally bright face falling. He wrapped his fingers in her fur and pulled her close, whispering into it. "Please, Rhi."
She shook him off, pulled herself free of his grasp but not before kissing his cheek and smiling again. "Once I find Lior again, I'll be home.[/b]" she said, and there was no arguing in her tone. "Take care of my Queen and my family. You know I love them, they need to be safe.[/b]" She moved back to not-Lior, glancing back once at Peaches and Xiven, her expression unreadable.
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Post by The Jenn on Mar 5, 2009 22:38:33 GMT -5
Lior watched the drama unfold between Pale and his summoner without discernable expression one way or the other. He was still moving in the direction of the stairs. She could follow if she wished, but he wasn't waiting. He had things to do. There were people dying every day, and he needed to find them. He needed their souls. Their souls needed to find their way to him, and he could take care of them from there.
He heard the voices behind him, the pleading weapon and the calm, affectionate woman that some part of his mind claimed to love. Really, though, he loved himself far more. That was why it would be so difficult to stir him from his comfortable cocoon within their melded consciousness, his own awareness subsumed by the purpose of the cloak. He would rather be safe and comfortable and calm than deal with the stresses of the world. She could pull him forward if she tried, though. It would defeat the purpose of protecting him, and so it would not be permitted often, not at all. He would not allow it.
With the swish of his cloak, made from the wings of innumerable birds, he left the palace grounds.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Mar 5, 2009 22:50:08 GMT -5
Peaches listened to pleading, the hair on her neck still standing on end. She turned back to watch Rhi and her summoned weapon as Xiven tried to ignore everything. Peaches gently squeezed her daughter's shoulder, hoping that she would pay attention.
It was hard not to hear Rhi's voice even if she was staring so intently at her father's neck. Her Queen? How could she still say that if she was leaving to follow Her Lior? Xiven briefly clutched her chest, choking back the tears that still wanted to come. No, she wasn't going to give up and cry like an idiot in front of so many people.
Dad's necklace. She needed to find it. Slowly she stood up, glancing over her shoulder at Rhi an Lior taking flight. She flinched when she saw the look on Pale's face. This was happening.
She took deep breath and glanced down at her father's dead body. Right now, she would find his necklace. Motioning to her mother to stay where she was, she walked into her Papa's room, looking around for the necklace. Hoping it wasn't in plain sight...
Peaches was left dumbfounded next to the body of Pravus. Shit. Reality really sucked. She took a deep breath and stood up. Carefully she tried not to get dizzy. She glanced at the two departing Kings and Pale.
Mephit.
Peaches bolted. Crap. Mephit. She ran as fast as she could possibly go past the various people. Maybe she should have stayed behind with Pravus' body? Not like anyone was going to do anything about it. "Mephit! MEPHIT!"
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Post by Vyn on Mar 5, 2009 23:37:15 GMT -5
That voice. That scream. Mephit was almost getting used to Peaches's disruptions into her work and knew that tone well enough to judge something was wrong... In fact, it was probably a little worse than usual. Sighing to herself, Mephit set her work down and looked up, eyes darkly curious. "What now?"She didn't expect the words she was met with, but she should have. Pravus... dead. It should have been more of a surprise, but it wasn't. What was a surprise, however, was the pain that seemed to suddenly erupt in her chest. Fuck, what was that? Waving Peaches off, Mephit found her hooves dragging her up the stairs before her mind could catch up. That pain... A sort of shattering emptiness somewhere in the pit of her chest, not heart pains... nothing physical. It wasn't until she reached the hallway, empty save for Pravus's bloody corpse, that she managed to put a name to the pain. It was something she'd only heard about and never really realized she was capable of feeling... Did she actually love that crazy feline? The doe laughed, simply because she couldn't think of anything else to do but it did little to ease the aching. "You bastard, you left me." He was better off dead, Mephit didn't dispute that... but it still hurt in an odd way that he was gone. What the hell was she going to do? Sure he was crazy but he was the only one she'd ever been close to... A slow sigh tore its way out of her chest before her eyes roved to the gaping wound in his neck and the missing bauble. Hadn't Peaches mentioned that Xiven was going to find it? If Peaches was trying to speak to her, Mephit was currently oblivious. All she could see was the blood and the cold, lifeless body that laid amongst it all. He was so pretty, all covered in blood, but so very obviously gone. She had nothing left anymore, save for a strange acquaintance with a dead man's axe. Mephit reached out, running her fingers through the feline's soft fur one last time before turning from the mess to pursue his daughter. Busying herself with something else was the only way she'd be able to ignore that stupid, miserable throb. Eventually Mephit found herself in the doorway to Pravus's room, her expression twisted and slightly 'off'. "Xiven?" What in the name of the Suits was she even doing? |
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Post by Kari Muffin on Mar 5, 2009 23:51:35 GMT -5
Xiven searched around the room. The events of what had happened continued to play in her mind. Rhi had left her. Lior had gone. Papa was really dead.
There it was, she caught the glint of the stone when she was walking by the table. Reaching out she picked up the necklace, and noticed the paper. Her heart almost stopped as looked at the word written there. She slowly picked it up, eyes fixed on the single world, and her name.
Her name.
A cry escaped her as she slowly sunk to the floor. The tears decided to return as she sat there, hugging the note and the necklace. He really... must have loved her, right?
--
Peaches broke the news, and she followed the deer wordlessly. What could she say? She could barely believe it herself. Was she supposed to break down crying again? She saw it coming. She knew since the day Fino died that everything would collapse for Pravus, and now it had. She wanted to cry but... the tears weren't exactly there at the moment.
She watched as Mephit walked away, Peaches continued to stare at Pravus. "I guess... it was better for you... but you have no idea how many people loved you, idiot Pravus." She said before biting her lower lip to prevent tears. This needed to be cleaned up. They couldn't leave him like this.
--
Xiven looked up from her tears to see the hazy image of Mephit. She couldn't say anything, she simply looked at the deer with reddened eyes, still clutching the necklace and letter to her chest.
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Post by Vyn on Mar 6, 2009 0:00:24 GMT -5
What the hell was she supposed to do with herself?
The thought repeated itself over and over again in her head, a sickening worthless mantra. What she would do of course was continue her work in the dungeons... and yet Pravus's absence made the joy in that seem oddly dimmed. There was Marie, though, and that would make it better?
But it didn't.
The doe contained a growl of frustration and focused more fully on Xiven. She couldn't even seem to bring herself to be disgusted with the tears, she just studied the Torque feline and let herself absently note all the ways that she and her father were similar. It was mostly in the breed and bodyshape... personality, to a degree, was there too... "What did he leave you?" It wasn't what she expected to leave her muzzle as she walked over, eyes dark with thought. Her Pravus... his daughter... the only child he had actually been proud of. Did Xiven even know?
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Post by Kari Muffin on Mar 6, 2009 2:24:12 GMT -5
Xiven's ears flattened against her skull briefly as she tried to register the words that Mephit had been speaking. There was still a haze with what was going on. Her Papa had really left, and he was never coming back. But he had loved her. He left a note just for her.
And Rhi and Lior were gone too.
Her heart shank, she could still feel it breaking as she thought about the word "gone." Would her King every come back?
"His... his necklace," she said quietly before looking down at the now crumpled note and small amber necklace.
Why did he have to do it? Why did any of this have to happen? She shook her head, unable to cry anymore. Everyone was gone. What did she have left? A necklace, a feeling, and a broken heart.
"What...?" She didn't bother to finish what she had started. She just shook her head. "No. Never mind."
She went to stand, only to find it was a bit harder than she originally anticipated after flopping on her own legs.
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Post by Vyn on Mar 6, 2009 11:03:49 GMT -5
Sentimentality. That's all this was. Mephit stared into the room, watching Xiven with that puzzling and unreadable expression on her face, and seethed to herself in the knowledge that she had somehow failed to eradicate all of these useless emotions. That crushingly empty ache deep within her chest was suffocating and left her with a sense of uneasiness. It was all so alien to her, realizing that one person could so heavily affect the way she viewed everything. Something needed to change, without Pravus the dungeons were almost lonely. It had been bad enough when insanity made his visits sparse, but with him gone all together they would be exceptionally lacking. Not that she had any intention of abandoning her work there, that would never happen, but she needed something more. Her orange eyes tightened on Xiven, picking apart all those little similarities again. Accursed sentimentality, it made her want to see if the Torque feline was really as similar to her father as she looked. The doe's hands balled into fists at her side before uncoiling easily, and she made her way into the room at last. Pravus was gone, that wouldn't change, but Xiven was here and she was good enough. Another fluffy feline, and she would get a chance to see just how similar the personalities were. "You were his favorite, you know." She spoke lowly as she stared down at the note Xiven held. A smirk twitched briefly at the edge of her muzzle and then vanished again. Pravus had never said those exact words, but Mephit knew him well enough to know the meaning in his words. "He was proud of you." Mephit was not the sort to be comforting, and she honestly doubted she was getting anywhere close to begin with, but she was certain Pravus would have wanted the girl to know. (Forgive me if this post fails. My computer here in class keeps restarting and it has done a number on my muse.  Grah.) |
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Post by Kari Muffin on Mar 6, 2009 15:26:30 GMT -5
Of all people to say that, Mephit was probably the least expected. Xiven decided that the ground was probably safer than standing at the moment, so she slipped down carefully to the floor. With bloodshot eyes she looked at Mephit, unsure of what to say in response to her statement.
Was she really his favorite? Was he really proud of her? She'd been trying so hard to prove herself when he already approved of her. She let out a sound, something that was a cross between a wail, whimper and whine. She clutched the necklace tighter to her chest, her own claws were once again drawing blood by digging into her own skin.
"Is this really... really happening?" She asked quietly. She didn't even understand why she was asking the question. She knew full well that her Papa was dead, Lior was gone and had taken Rhi with him. Everything in her life had shattered. But... maybe if she heard it from someone like Mephit... it would make things somehow, more real?
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Grah.)