Old Scars and New

As they continued to make their way through the forest and the mist that crawled across the ground, they eventually came to a point where there was two distinct paths to choose from and they both paused, glancing at one another. "This is my first time coming through here as well," he replied, glancing between the two paths. He had crossed through Auster briefly on his way to find his sister, but he had skirted around the forest and avoided the labyrinth within. They were on too much of a tight schedule to do that today, but luckily it looked like her dutiful canine companion had thought ahead and had begun scouting the path ahead of them, revealing which way they should go. He had no real way of knowing which way to go and as prideful as he might be he wasn't an idiot so he happily took the companion's silent advice and followed the pale dog down the path.

They moved on through the forest, talking easily with one another about his desire to see the calm Princess confront someone and her insistence that she rarely got to this point where she would want to confront someone to begin with. "Hm... A shame," he teased with a slight grin. He was a conundrum unto himself when it came to seeking out fae that were strong and could hold their own since he only wanted to observe that side of them and not experience it for himself. He still wanted the women he was with to be submissive to him when he wanted it, but he couldn't stand them being entirely spineless either. Perhaps, if he was lucky, Ikigai could have a good mix of both. Only time would tell though since he couldn't have her the way he wanted to just yet. Soon, he hoped, but not yet.

He still couldn't quite get his mind off of the similarities in their paths and as they walked, slowly moving closer to their destination, he decided he might as well share some parts of his past if for no other reason than it would open up the conversation on his family and their customs so he could see what her reaction to them would be. He didn't know if those were things Manea had let her in on yet and he was interested to see what kind of fight, if any, she would put up when she found out. "My siblings and I had to confront our mother for not too dissimilar of a reason," he mentioned, glancing toward her, but mostly keeping his gaze fixed ahead of him. It was a subject that still didn't sit well with him, but it gave them something in common at least. His goal now was to simply win her over so that when the time came to choose she would make the right choice. "It was quite a while ago now... Actually, I was about your age, I suppose." Had it really been three years already? It was kind of hard to believe, but time kept moving whether they wanted it to or not.

"Deimos Mendacium"