(Set to just a bit before the Ashen festival for saftey)

For all Emile's feelings of abandonment he couldn't help but feel a bit guilty for having not visited his sister yet. Lillith had also nearly left his life and he'd been so wrapped up in his all consuming grief he'd not yet been to see her, despite her now being better and actively starting to reintegrate with the pack.

So at the very least that day he would seek her out. He would slink through the castle searching for the largely unfamiliar scent of his sister, the feeling of strangeness for something he still knew so intimately was so incredibly odd for the young man, still he was pretty sure he had managed to suss out her scent and he followed it where it lead through the castle.

Speech

Art by Rivaah

Like Ezra Lillith didn’t really expect Emile to come see her, she wasn’t worth it before and wasn’t now. Lil would have to prove herself before she could really feel like she wasn’t a burden anymore. She felt like that might take a very long time, even now she still felt the lingering effects of the illness. Pushing herself too hard always set her back and now she had been sick for longer than she had been well in her short life. It left its mark in her physically, keeping her of much smaller stature than her siblings. No matter if she recovered fully or not, she would have that reminder for the rest of her life.

The smaller girl was restless despite how lethargic she was often forced to be. After high stress situations she was the worst, as was proven by her encounter with the saber cat. Knowing it wasn’t the best idea to travel too far from the castle without someone to watch her, another fact that made her cringe at her inability. So dainty silver paws carried her over the stone and carpeted floors. Walking, building herself back up slowly. In some of the corridors she tried to run, but when she found herself out of breath. Like now. Lil sprinted down the hall but pushed herself to hard. The young Adravendi fell back onto her haunches with a heavy gasp as she fought to catch her breath. At least she was close to her room.

She was glad she was alone, everyone always worried over her more than necessary when she got like this. Making her feel like more of a burden. Of course as soon as the thought crossed her mind Emile rounded the corner. She had no way to hide the way she sucked in her breath, or the fact she could hardly focus her eyes on anything important. She wasn’t swaying at least. ”Emile,” she breathed, closing her eyes as she willed herself to recovery.

Lillith Adravendi

Despite himself, despite the deep sadness he seemed unable to shake Emile couldn't help but smile slightly upon spotting his sister, white dusted paws rounding a corner to find her hunched over and panting and yet she greeted him all the same. "Lil." He said, his tone light, already adept at hiding the grief he was otherwise drowning in. In truth Emile was also greatful that his sister's nickname was short, it gave him less to trip over verbally, though when he did it was almost more obvious. His brows furrowed for a moment, as he stopped before his sister.

"Wwwwwwere you run-run-run-running?" He asked, concern knitting his brow and laced through his voice. Though she wanted to reach out and hold her, wanted to check her all over there was a notable awkwardness to the way Emile was holding himself... all the time spent away from his sister had left her something more akin to a stranger than his sister, though he loved her all the same.

Speech

Art by Rivaah

There was a lot of the time that Lillith felt sad, but these days that sadness had turned to frustration. She couldn’t stand how weak she was, how much less she could do than other normal wolves. Now that she was returning to society she realized how far back she had been held. The girl was getting help, Gwyn looked after her well being, Ulric cared for her when she couldn’t provide for herself and she had Ezra and now Artorias to help train her. She really did have much to be thankful for, and yet she was still so far behind in life.

Lilith was trying, she wanted so badly to be better and back on her feet. Able to take patrols and look out for herself. All things she should have been doing already at a year of age, and yet she still didn’t feel ashamed of curling up in her father’s den when she was scared or lonely. She was breathing hard, knowing if her father saw her like this he’d start to worry over her. She had to push herself if she wanted to get better, in life and from her illness.

”Yeah…” Lillith exhaled heavily. Which was followed by a sigh and inhale as she struggled to catch her breath. ”It’s stupid but I’ve been trying to rn the hallways when I walk,” she paused for breath. ”Around the castle during the day.” Lilith breathed in, ”My stamina doesn’t want to improve.” She ended forlornly and lowered her head between her legs as if she would recover her breath better that way. Lil was frustrated with this too, any normal wolf would have caught her breath by now.

Lillith Adravendi

Arrested development was something of a theme, though he was only really starting to realize it Emile had never stopped grieving his missing mother and sister and hadn't developed the proper skills to know how to process it all... and there hadn't exactly been someone there to help him through it, the only adult who had even seemed to see he was struggling had died and he hadn't even been allowed to say goodbye, he was stuck, his emotions were stuck and unlike his sister he was still trapped in the loop, unsure who to even turn to at this point.

But on the other hand, he'd gotten rather good at masking his struggles. Or at least when he wasn't talking and focus was on other things, such as his sister. Which was probably not as much fun for her but it certainly gave him a good reason to make sure attention stayed on her for the time being. His brow furrowed as he approached her slowly, starting a slow walk around her as long as she didn't stop him, pausing every once and while to sniff at her slowly.

Iiiiiiiiiit's not stu.... stupid." He said, his tone serious. To be honest he was almost jelous, from his view while he was stuck in place, unable to even begin to start moving past his traumas his sister was striving forward, maybe slower than she was happy with but moving just the same. "Jusssssssst don't push-sh-sh-sh yoursssssssself to hard." He said, he wasn't scolding just a genuine concern for his sister in his tone. "Over over over over doing it could do more dammmmmmmage and put you right-t-t-t-t back where you sssssssstarted." But beyond that he wasn't going to fuss over her too much, he was the last wolf to really judge anyone else's potentially damaging habits, which he didn't really think Lillith's runs were outside of her potentially opening up old wounds... for lack of a better term.


Speech

Art by Rivaah

Lillith would never stop wondering what it was that made their mother leave with their sister, but she did know life would be so much different. Maybe if Azariah had remained Lil wouldn’t have ever gotten sick, but maybe her leaving had only exacerbated the problem. Perhaps it was always there, and she had sensed it, deciding to leave with one daughter instead of watching one die. Those were always the hardest thoughts. Lil occupied herself well, with whatever training she could do, interesting lessons with Eska or training with Ezra or Artorias. There was always a nagging feeling that she would fail those important wolves in her life and they’d decide she was no longer worth the effort.

Emile ventured closer and Lil wouldn’t stop him. Like Gwyn she could tell he just wanted to look her over. She continued to take in deep heavy breaths but was slowly gaining control of them. Emile tried to assure her that her running wasn’t stupid, but she didn’t quite believe him. He didn’t say anything that she hadn’t heard before, take it easy, don’t overdo it. She tried to smile and nod, taking his advice as she started to take in longer, more controlled breaths. ”I know. But it’s so hard to hold myself back when I’m already so far behind.” She averted her gaze bashfully, a soft sigh in her lips as she finally returned to a normal breathing pattern.

Lillith Adravendi