A Beautiful Mind [Finished]

[Tigeress]

The feline had started to pick up stick as well, and with his significantly shorter snout, he has less room to maneuver his words out properly, so he sounded a little strange. "I do, I have one sister, she's nice enough, but she's mean sometimes. Only when my mother is around, though." He didn't pretend to understand what was going on, but a few times the feline had taunted him with rumours that couldn't be true. That, and his nanna had been very forgetful a few nights on the phone, not closing the door to her room and allowing Tristian to overhear a few concerning things.

He didn't understand what most of them meant. Things like rape and quest and all that just flew over his head, but the gossip factor in his house was huge. The feline was glad for the distraction the equine offered him, nodding his head, his eyes sparkling with consideration. "I guess I could. I'm bad with words though, I don't write very much. I always have my paints near me though, except now, but I did a quick piece before I left." It was like a constant stream of water into a small teacup, he could empty it dry by sitting it down and doing a piece of art, and as long as he wasn't gone too long, it wouldn't even be full again by the time he return to sit and his paints and wait for something to strike him.

"From what I've heard, the courts sound kind of scary. I don't know why anyone would want to be a part of that. People just talk and say bad things, and... do bad things." He'd heard enough 'don't worry dear, it'll all work out' to know his mother's time at the courts wasn't always full of success and sunshine. It was a constant struggle, so why didn't she just come home? "I know how you feel. I... think my dad is in the courts, but my mom never talks about him really. I don't think they meant to have me and my sister, either. But she still stays there all the time. I think maybe she's seeing someone else and won't tell us." There was a tone of sadness to his voice that equalled the jealousness in Aurelius'. He didn't like that someone kept his mother away from him for so long, and that she liked being around him more than Tristian.

"I wonder if anyone has normal relationships around here?" He asked jokingly, laughing and gaining another stick in his mouth. It meant he had to raise his head up to even the balance, but it made it hard to see the ground in front of him. He stumbled and bounced about as he walked, and grinned at himself in the process. He must have looked rather silly. "I think this is enough." He muttered out, though it probably sounded nothing like what he'd meant it to.

[FlyingPanther]

Aurelius couldn't even begin to understand mean siblings. Well, that wasn't completely true, the majority of his step siblings were kinda....really mean...though Xylia had been nice enough. Vertumnus has been nice to for a little bit, but when he found out that his mother and father (also Aurelius' father) were not exclusive...he became very nasty indeed. Aurelius supposed he couldn't blame him. He would have been really upset about the situation to...if his Father had been a bit more participating in their growth. Severus and Mephit had not seemed interested...and were not very nice at all it seemed.

"I bet you're better at writing then I am. I'm not much of an artist." no he really didn't have any skillsets. He sighed through the sticks in his mouth. He would really have to get on that. He after all, didn't plan to live with his mother forever, even if he did love her greatly. He needed to be off on his own...or living with his siblings...but no one lived with their parents at an older age...that was just weird. "Oh! Can I see some of your work when I go to your house? I would just love to see!" he said, suddenly remembering that he was indeed going to the boys house...and surely there would be tons of the feline's paintings to see.

"I agree about the courts, I don't really know anyone who wants to be in them...except maybe my brother Claudius. He mentioned something the other day about raising rank. I don't imagine he would want to raise rank if not for the purpose of getting into the courts. No one really pushes up to rank up in our family...even if 3 out of the whole 7 of us are Jacks." he wondered if Irving wanted to be in the courts...he had never bothered to ask come to think of it.

When the boy spoke of the man his mother was potentially seeing, Aurelius frowned behind the twigs a bit. He tried to cheer him up, "Maybe your dad just isn't the fathering type you know? My dad doesn't really seem to be that way...though hes had a couple of kids himself. My mom always says that children need a father figure though...thats why Igal came to live with us, I think. Maybe your mom is just trying to find someone to act like that for you, but she doesn't want you to know until shes found someone she can trust?" the logic seemed to make sense to Aurelius anyway...he didn't really know if it would help though.

"I think there are all kinds of normal...normal is different for everyone. I think most of my relationships are normal enough...I don't really hate anyone. My parental relationship is kind of strange...but that is outside of my control. My relationship with the individual people, however, seems to be fine." he realized he was thinking like an adult then...and it was strange. He was always kind of the childish one of the family...it was strange to be rationalizing in an adult way. He smiled a bit, the question had meant to be a joke...but somehow...he had managed to answer it seriously. He tried to change the mood. "I've got quite a few twigs myself...lets go to your house!" he said with a bit of a frolic in his excitement to go.

[Tigeress]

Tristian positively beamed. He loved it when people were interested in his work! Probably because aside from Artemis and Sekhmet, it never really happened... "Oh of course! I would love some critique, and if you wanted, maybe I could teach you some things? If we have enough sticks, maybe I could make something for you so you can hold a paintbrush too! I'm sorry, that's only if you want to." He blushed feverishly, upon realizing that he was basically shoving Aurelius into his own personal interests. How selfist of him, it was probably only a passing comment, and even if the deer wanted to learn, he didn't want to pressure him into doing it like, right now.

"Wow, that's like my family. My sister and I are both very high ranked for being born into this naturally. She's a nine, and I'm a ten. My mother is I think... a King now? I'm loosing count of ranks she's increased. I think I heard that my real dad is a King too, but you know... you make a lot of sense. I hope she finds someone who actually wants us. I think I'd like a new dad if he liked children." It was strange to say but he just wanted someone to love him, even if this only happened when Tristian was half grown, he knew he'd probably still have a lot to learn from whoever his mother chose. She was so very careful with him and his sister, he knew she wouldn't just jump into something.

"Oh... wow. I um... think my relationships are normal." He grinned sheepishly, the boy sure did think very complex sometimes, and the brilliant minded feline still had trouble keeping up with the advanced thought processes he dished out every now and then. Also, the word relationship made him feel awkward, he didn't really know why.

"Alright!" He chirped, beginning to brance out of the forest.

-----

"Chai still not home?" The feline asked innocently as he trotted in. If he'd stopped to remember, he'd notice that his memories of his sister... stopped at a certain age. What he really didn't know, was that technically, they'd never even happened. His mind had twisted the ones of her and him all into positive occurances, whether they had been or not, so his memories of her would forever be as she was to him in that age, in his mind. He noticed the aquatic hued doe sitting in the corner, and he recognized that half-hearted smile. She gave it whenever he asked about his sister. Maybe she'd gone off to live with mother in the palace and nobody had the heart to tell him?



Artemis lowered her head to avoid giving him that same emotional stare she hadn't been able to hide for 4 years now. He still always asked if she would come home, like it was yesterday. He'd created these fantasy memories in his mind of the feline that was his sister, always conveniently forgetting his only true memory of her, which should have been her abduction, and the bitter flu he'd contracted which had almost taken his own life. Sekhmet had been a mess that day, and it always pained her to come home and have that question asked. The doe could only assume that was why she'd been spending more and more time away.

It was almost too much to bear, his innocent curiosity, his love for a girl who had never really existed. "No, she's not home Tristian. She's still gone." It was too hard for anyone to come out and say she was dead, the last time anyone had tried, the boy had almost been his own undoing. Somehow, there was just something in his mind that wouldn't let him out of his fantasy land long enough to see that his memories were all fake. But it made sense, to believe something like that, to change an entire portion of your own memory, it was almost impossible. And the effects on his mind after that could be terrible. Someday, she hoped he'd just... forget.

"You've brought a friend?" She asked, standing up and sweeping her silvered mane to the side. Artemis couldn't help but grin widely, it had been so long that she'd been hoping he'd find someone else, to take his mind of Chaitali and to give him true memories to replace the lonely paradise he'd made up for himself. There was hope in this meeting, perhaps his new aquaintance would stick around and be the sibling Tristian obviously wished he still had. He was such a brilliant child with so much life in him, she couldn't stand to see him wasting it on the dead.

[FlyingPanther]

Aurelius didn't seem to find the fact that Tristian was thrusting his intrests upon him. In fact, he seemed to be pretty gungho about it. "Oh! I would love to learn how to paint! Would you really teach me?" he said with a smile and a emphatic wiggle of his tail. It remained to be discovered if Aurelius had any creative talent, but that certainly didn't seem to be stoping him from wanting to learn. He pranced along side his new friend, listening to what he had to say about his family with a nod. Indeed, he certainly hoped his mother would find someone she and he deserved. Everyone deserved to be loved.

Soon they were within the house, and to greet them was a lovely Ranger Doe. He immidiately felt more comfortible. Not that cats made him uncomfortible really, but he was used to the presence of deers...and deers were a bit of a symbol that let him know that all was well. For the most part. But all wasn't really that well, the Doe's face gave off a concerned face that he often saw on his mother when something bad happened...or whenever she looked at or talked about Irving. Something was not right about the situation with his sister. He might have asked, but he almost entirely fed off the waves of emotion that came from the doe, and it didn't seem appropriate. She was conflicted...and upset.

All at once he felt a great sadness. What had happened? He felt a great sympathy for her. And for his friend. "Yes, I was helping him gather sticks." Aurelius said, a mouthful of twigs in his mouth, he put them down on the ground so he could properly speak. He bowed his head slightly to the doe and spoke again, "My name is Aurelius, ma'am. Thank you very much for allowing me into your home." he said with a smile. His mother had tought him some manners...and Ilana had been good about enforcing the behavior. Claudius on the other hand...was not always so polite. Aurelius figured this was mostly do to his 'devil-may-care' kind of attitude.

[Tigeress]

The feline headed straight for his paints, motioning his companion to drop the sticks nearby, not noticing immediately the uncomfortable aura that flowed through the room suddenly. When he did, his ears flattened a little and he glanced around, but nobody seemed to be crying or anything, nobody had even really said anything. Weird, it sometimes got like this when he came home.

"We can set up camp over here, I keep all my tools fairly close together." He said clearly, having lain his sticks to one side of his paints near some chiseling tools that looked like potato peelers.... and very well might have been.

The deer was eerily empathic, he could just sense moods in the air. The doe could tell by his expression that he'd caught onto her emotions and so quickly tried to dispell them by focussing on the positive. A friend to take Tristian out of his fantasy world and replace his long since departed sister.

"Well isn't that nice of you?" She smiled genuinely, moving towards the two to curiously inspect what they were doing.

"I am Artemis, his aunt. Sekhmet hasn't returned from the courts yet, but I'm sure she was just held up in her quest." She grinned widely, knowing how excited and happy Sekhmet would be if she returned home to them successful. It meant a lot to her, and after their initial blowout, the doe very much supported her sister's decision. Hell, she'd even thought about pursuing the same... except now that she was spending all her time with her sister's children, she just couldn't. Sekhmet didn't willingly move on to a different life and leave them behind, she just couldn't stop hers because of one little accident. Artemis knew if she left now, she would be abandoning Tristian completely.

And looking at his happy smiling face in those bouncings curls, nobody could ever want to hurt that golden child.

"You're fashioning him something so he can paint with you, aren't you Tristian?" She laughed and shook her head. "I hope you let him have some say in the matter!" Glancing towards the boy, she placed her hands on her hips. "Don't be afraid to say no, he'll probably hog all the paints like he did with me." To be honest, she'd been terrible at it, and had never had any prior interest, but teaching her had given Tristian a lot of enjoyment, so she'd enjoyed it until he became distracted in his own work.

[Kiki]

FP and Tigs receive 1 token each, to be redeemed in Ashwin's Shoppe. This will automatically be added to your recorded totals in the shoppe. Congratulations, and keep up the good RP!

[FlyingPanther]

It was hard for Aurelius not to pick up on emotions. He himself being such an emotional person, often meant he could tell what other people around him were feeling, or at least it seemed to be the case. He was still uneasy, even after the demenor change, but he let it go. It wasn't his place to be meddling into what seemed to be wrong with Tristian's sister. Maybe she would come by later today, and he would see for himself.

He wiggled his tail a bit when the doe introduced herself, coming over to see what they were up to. "It is a pleasure to meet you Artemis." he said smiling a bit. Suddenly something overtook him, and he blushed slightly. It was that weird feeling again, the one that always came when he met anyone. It engulfed him entirely. It caused hormones to rage and weird emotions to pop up and confuse him. He shook it of, grabbing the sticks that he had laid down to talk to Artemis, before heading over to the table where the paints and other sticks were located, and added them to the pile.

He shook his head a but with a smile, when she told him he had every right to say no. Why did everyone seem to think he was uninterested? No matter, he was very excited to learn anything. "Oh no! I'm very much interested in seeing what he can teach me. I've always been rather interested in art...but I don't know much about it...or how to do it. It's a little hard to learn those kinds of things when you have hooves" he said, picking up a lime green and golden foot so that he could illustrate his point. Oh yes...most certainly not for painting...

[Tigeress]

The more the doe looked at the boy, the more he seemed familiar. Surely there were quite a few deers from Avington who had children at some point in their lives... but she couldn't help but ask. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Aurelius. Might I ask who your parents are? I'm sorry, you look familiar, I might know them." She smiled to hide her uncertain curiosity, not knowing how she'd feel if the stag she'd met for a short while and barely known had kept something like this from her. He didn't have any reason to come out and say it, though she'd offered up a lot of her personal history.

When he showed such interest in the paints, she couldn't help but shake her head. "Well, you have a lot more courage than I do, I was too embarassed to really give it much of a try. It's much harder for us with the hooves, than him with his agile paws." She ruffled Tristian's mane affectionately and sat down nearby to watch him fashion up a pair of rather strange looking wooden add-ons. She assumed this was to make up for the lack of extra digits on Aurelius' hooves, and the lack of ability to move them as much individually. It was good he thought of that, but then, he seemed to think of everything.

"I'm glad you're willing to try, I'm sure you'll be a natural. It takes an emotionally balanced and aware person to really connect with art, I think. You have that... feeling." He said, his face contorted in equal thought divided by Aurelius'... feeling and the wooden hoof-hand he was still trying to perfect. He'd focus on this first, and if he had to use up all his wood, they'd just go out tomorrow again before the piano store opened. Though he felt bad knowing he willingly put them both in danger, but the deer was bigger and stronger than him, so he had felt rather safe.

Silly and trusting of the boy, but true. "Everyone knows everyone around here but me." He fake pouted when he heard his aunt's question to the boy. He had already had the family talk earlier and was fine with letting it rest, but Artemis innocently was just curious as to where he came from. She did seem to have a lot of connections and aquaintances in the city, surprising for how little she got out lately, and he felt bad for that, too.

"Maybe we could all go out for a walk later?" He asked, suddenly guilty for all the time he took out of her potentially exciting life.

[FlyingPanther]

If Aurelius could scratch his head, he might have, but hooves didn't seem to make anything easy. Hmm, Artemis....He had never heard her name mentioned before, and he had never seen her before either. But then again, his mother didn't seem like an overly social person, though she truely had the makings to be. Maybe it was the fact that she had children at a young age. Yeah...that was most likely it. He spoke after a moment of thinking, a small smile on his face that matched Artemis', "Well, my mother's name is Astyana. For the most part, I consider her my parent, my father wasn't very active in our lives...me and my siblings that is. I've only met him a couple times really, but I don't blame him. I don't think my siblings and I were suppose to happen, and I believe he was afraid of many different things." he paused for a moment, it didn't really feel right to give out the name of a man who seemed perfectly nice...even if he was a fuck up for a father. When he had introduced the two families together, he had been afraid. He figured that was mostly his reason for staying away. He had been a little more commited to the other family. Not to mention he didn't seem to have that great a relationship with Igal...for whatever the reason. "My father's name is Silvanus." he said finally, turning his head to watch the progression of what Tristian was creating.

It was slowly starting to take form. It was certianly a strange looking contraption, and Aurelius was excited to try it out. "Oh...I don't know about courage. I don't really have any hobbies or anything. Growing up I used to play with my siblings, there were a bunch of us 5 in total...so we never really got bored or anything, or tried to pick up anything on the side, or at least I didn't. I think it would be nice to learn something new and fun for when I'm alone. I'm alone much more often now that we are all teenagers...and going our seperate ways." he explained, feeling a little pang in his heart as he finished the last sentence. Yes, they all seemed to be drifting away slowly.

"You think so? Heh...I don't know about balanced but...I suppose I try." truth was that he was far from emotionally balanced, but in the moment he supposed he appeared to be. Oftentimes his emotions got the best of him....well...actually most of the time. After all, he did have that...falling in passionate love with everyone he ever meets thing going for him...and well...being a teenager was no cakewalk as far as emotions.

Aurelius shook his head a little "Oh I don't know about that! The only people I really know are my own siblings...and there was one day I met a bunch of people in the park while looking for my half brother...but...none of them were very nice...except this one fox kid named Kare. She was very nice! I haven't seen her since then...." there was a hole there....he really did miss Kare...but he was beginning to wonder if he would ever see her again. He sighed a little, and then noded, "We should go for a walk...it would be fun! Maybe we could run into some people...and then you'd know people!" yes...it seemed to make sense to him at least.

[Tigeress]

Silvanus. Ah, really there must have been fewer Avington deer in the city than she'd origionall imagined. He'd never mentioned any Astyana to her that she could remember. Hmmm a one night stand gone wrong perhaps? Her sister had almost had one of those, it had been a very close call. Hopefully it was nothing forceful, but the delicate and broken-minded stag seemed to be too gentle for a thing like that. Would it be rude of her to bring it up again? She had intended to stop in and say hi as soon as Sekhmet returned home again, her sister had given her their old place to herself and she felt she didn't use it at all. Some company and relaxation time was in order. And talking.

"It sounds like your father is a good man, simply lost in his decisions as most people tend to be whether they realize it or not." The moonlight hued doe mused, mostly to herself than the boy. Though, that was rude, and he probably could tell by now that there was a reason behind her questions. He was a darn perceptive little thing.

"I have met Silvanus before, once, I enjoyed his company." She said calmly, letting her voice betray little of the bizarre and emotional night. They'd both just needed someone to unload on, someone who wouldn't judge them or look at them weird if they passed by on the street. Someone who could truly relate. She had so much more to talk about now, but hopefully their next visit would be accompanied by significantly less tears.

Tristian sighed thoughtfully, rustling his hair in the process as he put on the finishing touches. "I've been on my own for quite some time, now that Chai's gone out all the time, I hope she stays out of trouble." He couldn't see the pained look on his aunt's face, and the sounds of metal clinking stifled the sigh that almost became a sob. Luckily, he only really picked up on emotion if he could see someone, but it meant he was so oblivious to the pain he caused his family when he talked like he did about his sister. It was strange why she never came home anymore, not even to eat or sleep, didn't she know how little Sekhmet came home nowadays? That would probably have made her happy.

"There!" He exclaimed excitedly, looking at the small stash of wood leftover. Maybe just enough... and there were those rubber bands out in the front lawn from a recent delivery for nanna...

"I'll be right back, and the walk later sounds like a definate yes?" He questioned, looking at the doe who strangely had her head carefully turned away. She spoke without looking at him, and for the life of him he couldn't figure out what had her attention so well. Shrugging it off, he trotted outside to look for the small pile of pinkish elastic bands.

As soon as her nod had been aknowledged and the boy left, Artemis let out a long sigh and looked at Aurelius.

"You seem to be able to sense when people are upset, and I'm sure this is concerning you... Tristian's sister is dead. She died when they were very young, but for some reason, Tristian has these made up memories of them growing up together for a few good years, then they just... go away, and in his mind she's out there somewhere, just waiting to come home. We tried once to explain things to him but he broke down... nobody's mentioned anything since and he just forgot it and went back to his made up memories. I'm... I'm hoping that having you around will help him replace her ghost of a memory with something real." She paused and stood, taking in another slow breath.

"I just thought you should know. He seems to care a fair amount for your company, so I assume you'll be around a lot, I didn't want you asking him about it sometime and getting his story... for everyone's sake, it's better you know the truth. I hope you won't think of him differently, he's not crazy just... lonely I think." At that moment, the door burst open and Tristian came bouncing back in as merrily as he'd left.

"Ready to paint, Aurelius?" He questioned with a violently wagging tail following behind him.