Night fell over the territory sooner than he had anticipated. Had winter arrived already? Slow blinks of his yellow eyes navigate him through the dim pathways of the ravine. Though the moon is still larger than ever, his brain ignores it for now. Most of the light is hidden by thick canopy and gloomy clouds. Was rain threatening to gift them soon? His mind wanders to no particular place. Rather focusing on getting the lay of their new home now that he had time for it.

Sloping walls and thick flora directed him to stay on the path. Moving eastward, beneath the treehouses, toward the fjord that separated them from the rest of Boreas. Quite paws keep him stealthy, undetected by those slumbering above him. Last he had checked, Modesty and Jael were asleep albeit very pregnant and could stir at any moment. He wouldn't bother himself with that now - let them sleep while they could. Unfortunately for Gilgamesh, sleep wasn't a friend, nor even an acquaintance. No, even now, he would make his way back and forth, patrolling the southern and eastern borders until the sun rose over the water.

The Raid King, Gilgamesh

table coding by bunni ♥

It had been long enough. Siduri had wandered the wilds after learning about her father's death. She'd killed things, devoured them, slept, walked, but mostly she was gone. Mentally checked out. The death of Gilgamesh had severed a thread of sanity within the girl that had unraveled her entire being. Siduri didn't know who she was half the time. She was a raft adrift at sea with no paddle, no sail, and no destination.

In a brief moment of clarity, Siduri figured that she should head back home. There were others that were grieving, after all. She didn't want them to cry about her as well. So Sid figured out where she was and set her paws towards walking home. It was a long, long walk, and night had fallen by the time that her paws touched the familiar terrain of home.

A ghost.

Mismatched eyes stared ahead and Siduri came to a complete stop. Gilgamesh, clear as day, stood in her path. Was her mind really that far gone that she was hallucinating? Well, why the hell not? She hadn't even been in her own skull for days. Siduri watched the ghost with rapt attention. Ghost or no, if this was the last time that she was to see her father, then she would remain still, unmoving, and would watch the specter until the wind carried it away.


"Siduri"

Gilgamesh was content to walk his nightly patrol until the sound of someone else forces him to stop. Every inch of him freezes, acutely aware of his surroundings as the figure emerges from the shadows. Familiar, that much is true. Siduri stands there, facing him, staring right back as if she were looking at a ghost. Did she think he was a ghost? A specter of the night? It seemed everyone thought he really had died…

Stepping forward, Gilgamesh closes the distance between himself and Siduri. Yellow eyes cast downward toward her, a brief upturn of his lips in only a way that a father could smile at his own child. “Siduri, where have you been?” Gilgamesh asks, not daring to reach out and touch her in case she was actually furious with him.

The ghost began to approach her and Sid's breath hitched in her throat. Within her chest, the girl's heart began to thud hard as though trying to break free. And then he was here, standing before her, asking where she'd been as though he hadn't died. As though nothing had changed. As though her world hadn't been burned to ashes and her mind set to the four winds. Where have you been...

Siduri stared at Gilgamesh, wide-eyed, in disbelief. That familiar figure, the familiar smile that she got to see more than most. Tears of a gargantuan size welled within the girl's multi-hued eyes, though she never even blinked, lest the phantom fade away. The moment that those tears overflowed and ran down pastel cheeks, Siduri launched herself at her father. If this wasn't him, if this was just her imagination, she would lose whatever sanity she had left. The girl closed her eyes and hoped. She wished.

Siduri's body slammed hard into flesh, rattling her teeth, rattling her bones, rattling her poor little heart within its cage. She crumpled to the earth below her and sobbed. The pale child curled in on herself, a sobbing, crying mess, sides heaving, gasping for breath. All the while, she kept one of her father's paws wrapped up in her embrace. One of his very real, very not-dead paws.

Piratess

Unlike the others, Siduri held a special place in Gilgamesh's heart. Even now, as she stared at him with those crocodile tears, he felt that threat of his heart shattering at the sight of her being so upset, so scared, so lost and confused. Causing pain to Modesty, to Jael, to the others had hurt, sure, but this was... different. Siduri was his little girl, his little Pirate King.

He stands still as a statue as Siduri races forward to embrace him. One back paw scoots backward as her body slams into his. The way her sobs jar her body, hiccupping and rocking him nearly off his paws, Gilgamesh tries his best to hold steady. His chin tilts downward, yellow eyes watching her gently as she curls around a paw, holding on to him for dear life. "Siduri," he whispers, leaning his face down to nuzzle her forehead.

"You really thought I'd let some idiot weaklings kill me?" Gilgamesh jokes knowing how serious the situation had been. In all reality, he had died if only for a few seconds. They could have done him in, but they hadn't and honestly, that would be their fault. They should've done him in because what came next was nothing close to friendly.

Falling down in the next few seconds to curl around Siduri's form, Gilgamesh molds around her until his head is resting over her neck and his muzzle is beside her cheek. "I will always be here for you, Siduri. I promise," his voice is soft, fatherly, as gentle as one could ever imagine the rough and tumble man to ever be.

The Raid King, Gilgamesh

table coding by bunni ♥