Luke 8:39

The delicate godling readily accepted the reassurance of physical touch, leaned his far less impressive bulk against his sister's shoulder and allowed some of the tension to trickle from his joints and down into the soil. To hear the reverent intonations of his mother's vocals from across the small clearing was surreal after so many years without her. He remained frustratingly mute, wrapped up in the machinations of his own mind as it struggled to grapple with this sudden turn of events. The turn of speech was not entirely unfamiliar coming from the woman who had raised them, she had always been an incredibly formal and eloquent woman. There was an inescapable distance in the tone she used, the look in her eye as she addressed the two offspring who had lingered in the shadow of their own youths. Was this what it was to grow up? One's parents ceased to be parents, and merely became cohorts? Fellow travelers on the path of life?

In lieu of speaking up, he listened to his sister as she strode forth, a few short steps to bring her closer to Toxicity. Remained unreadable and eerily still as Modesty lamented their mothers absence, demanded an explanation in much more measured terms than he might have originally expected. While he was far more in the loop on his sister's life and its many goings-on, it was still jarring to hear her mention with the utmost disregard for tact that he husband had become enthralled with a dog. It sat strangely with the Abraxas wolf. Though he dared not add fuel to the fire.

Finally, all that needed to be said had been spoken. His sister leaned her great skull forth to gently press against Toxicity's chest and seek comfort from her presence. "I have maintained the shrine's structures in your absence, rebuilt what was lost in Ashen's occupation after our exodus." he was dimly aware of his own manufactured distance, the subtle shift of his tone as though he addressed a superior- which he did. Now that she had returned, the matriarch resumed her place at the head of worship. He was merely an acolyte in her presence, merely a squalling infant once more. He couldn't bring himself to close the distance between them, still frozen and staring with those eerie eyes of his at the woman who even now seemed like a specter more than she did a wolf.

"Pontifex" || "Hallux" || "Pollux"