The young woman, or whatever others could have called her, held a heavy gaze from not getting enough sleep. Though she was out during the day. She made her way out to the peninsula and took a seat so she wasn't so far out that the wind could blow her off the edge. But the wind was bristling where she took hold, it didn't bother her too much. She moved one of her paws across the tiny crack beneath her feet, eyes closed as she examined it unintentionally with her paw. She still wasn't too fond of where they had settled, but she guessed it was better then being where Charon could actually "be." She would get used to it, for the sake of her family. How odd, thinking of others. It was so unlike her. "Talk"

Chione had always been distant and it was something that concerned Natalya. She knew that her daughter cared for the family, but she often struggled to show it for one reason or another. She had hoped that with time, the girl would come to confide in her, but that day had not yet come. Now she would seek answers on her own. She followed the scent of her daughter to the edge of the strip and approached silently from behind her. She hoped, perhaps, that Chione would reach out of her own accord. She would give her this one last chance, sitting quietly beside her, before the questions would come. Pressuring her daughter was not something she wanted to do, but she was certain it would be for the best in the end. "Speech"

Her eyes would stay closed as her mother came silently to her side. Though she wasn't really far enough forward, Chione could just sense that she was there, though her eyes never opened. She dropped her paw to rest after a few moments; was this how her mother felt, being blind? Of course Chione chose not to see for these few moments as she felt the ground under her pads. She did wonder how it felt. Of course, even though her mind was thinking of how horrible it must be not to use your own two eyes, out of the blue she would announce what she thought best and what was on her mind lately. "I want my own den, away from the rest of you." She wasn't intending her family, but the pack. And she made it very clear in her voice. Though there was also a hint of her not wanting to so much. "Talk"

What did Natalya want to do? She wanted to laugh, she wanted to yell, she wanted to walk away and give up. Her child had announced something that she placed on the same level as a pup saying "I hate you." As a parent, she knew ordinarily that she shouldn't take such words seriously, but this situation held a slight threat. Chione was so different from any of her siblings, even her brooding brother Apollo, that Natalya never knew quite what to expect. She did not turn her head toward her daughter when she finally replied, keeping her muzzle pointed out over the sea. "Chione, you are not even a year old and you do not yet know the dangers of the world. You will not be leaving my den until I decide that you are ready." She paused, taking a deep breath, finally tilting her head downward. "Tell me why you would ask for such a thing." "Speech"

She would finally let her granite orbs show, not that her mother could see. Natalya would speak, then sigh dropping her nose to match her daughter. She asked why she would even think of leaving the den, and a tear would fall from the other side of her face. Though, again, it didn't matter because her mother couldn't see it anyway. She thought of her outburst at Hermes' grave, though it was completely intentional and she didn't feel sorry for the least. Or did she? It didn't matter anymore, it was an old memory now. Was that the last she saw Apollo too? "I'm sorry." It was so clear, not a crumble in her throat to show her condition. Though there was no indicator on what she was sorry about, she was sorry for Hermes. Natalya could have assumed anything, but only one thing was for sure; she wasn't sorry for asking to leave the den. "Talk"

Cautiously, Natalya lowered her face. She stopped when her nose was nearly touching her daughter's cheek and sniffed softly for the salty scent she expected, the scent of a tear. She lapped it gently from Chione's fur, then pressed her forehead to her daughter's. It wasn't often that Natalya found herself at a loss, but she was confused at this moment. To go from demanding a separate home to apologizing... It seemed odd. The two didn't fit together. She pulled away after a long moment and spoke in hushed tones. "What are you sorry for, Chione? I have a feeling it isn't the statement you just made, but I have no idea what it is then." "Speech"

She would sit still as her mother sniffed and licked the tear on her cheek. She tried so hard to hide it, but her mother still sensed it. They would then lock onto each other's heads and Chione shut her eyes tight letting a few more fall. "For everything." She would choke out. Though, maybe she felt more sorry for herself. She wasn't even sure if she felt anything anymore. Anything but pain. "You're sorry for living. For being born. For getting mixed up with that other boy." She would tremble under Charon's words, stinging with each breath. She didn't want anyone to get caught in this, she didn't want anyone to feel this way. She hoped no one felt this way. "Talk" Think "Charon"

The Matriarch, for once, seemed at a loss for what to do.  Here she sat with a daughter she longed to bond with and understand and the opportunity lay before her, but she knew it would take even more prodding than it would with her other children.  Chione continued to be closed off even now while she opened up her heart and cried in front of her mother, uttering confusing apologies.  What could she be sorry for?  What did she even have to be sorry for?  Yes, she had been standoffish and sometimes rude toward her family, but Natalya knew that it didn't mean her daughter loved them any less.

"Chione, you don't need to be sorry for anything.  You have done nothing wrong that I am aware of.  You know how much we love you, don't you?"  Perhaps her daughter thought differently?  Natalya and Helios were quite busy, after all.  They didn't have much time to spend coddling their children, who were now almost yearlings.  Maybe Chione thought that for some reason they were avoiding her?

Speculating was exhausting.

"Doesn't he talk to you?" Her eyes looked to her mother with a bruised look. Was she the only one? She had to be. Charon always insisted she was. They would never believe her. She gently tipped over, softly bumping into nats shoulder and the side of her skull pushing into her mother. "Doesn't he treat you this way?" She remembered how her siblings and everyone else "ignored" Charon. They never talked to him or looked at him. Alec mentioned him once, but she was just playing along with the act. She couldn't see Charon, or else she would have known the evils he said about her.  "They all hate me, they just don't want to pay attention to me either." "But I hate you!" She shouted, whether it was in between her mother's words or while she wasn't speaking yet. She could have ignored her first words if she said anything, maybe it could have sounded like an answer or a reaction. If Nat hadn't seen it before, she sure saw it now. There was something seriously wrong with her daughter. But Chione had always saw it as normal. "Talk" Think "Charon"

Suddenly the pieces seemed to fall into place. Chione's odd behaviors began to make sense. Natalya had noticed her daughter's frequent mood swings, erratic statements and actions. Once in a while she had heard her when she was younger speaking with someone, who turned out to be apparently no one. Natalya had thought that Chione had an imaginary friend, but that it had vanished with age. Apparently she had just gotten better at hiding it, but the stress seemed to be making her crack.

What would happen if Natalya were to tell her daughter she couldn't hear him? Would Chione just get worse? But Natalya couldn't exactly lie to her daughter and say he did speak to her. It would be wrong. It seemed, from her wording, like Chione was being taunted by this man she thought she saw - he was not a kind friend. As Natalya pondered what to do, Chione had an outburst, and instinct decided for her in that instant.

"Chione, dear," she started in a soft, but commanding voice. "You must overpower him. You musn't let the words of any brute affect you. You are whoever you want to be. Ignore him, as you would a pesky sibling. Eventually he will get bored and he will have to leave you alone." Natalya had no idea what the man was supposedly saying to her daughter, but she knew that the only way to get rid of such a voice was to pretend it wasn't there until that became truth. And she knew from experience that, even in real life, the only way to deal with a wolf putting you down was to prove them wrong.

"How could she possibly understand." "You don't get it!" She shouted angrily, clamping her eyes and stomping her paw onto the ground roughly. Though she was directing this time at her mother and not at Charon. She had only brought up Charon to avoid such a comforting part of her life. She knew that if she would return her love, if she admitting to caring about her family, there would never be an end. But now it was almost like Natalya was challenging him. Now every time she would lay eyes on her mother, all of Charon's hateful emotions would hit her. Well, hit Chione because if there really was one thing she cared about, it was her family. She flung her body opposite of her mother, eyes still closed only wishing that someone would understand. "It will always be you and me, baby. Surely you must know that by now." She tripped onto the ground, though it was almost intended; landed with an "oof" and didn't try to get back up. She was still in tears, but more angry now. Mixed feelings between her mother and Charon. "You just... don't." "Talk" Think "Charon"

Natalya had tried being soft with her child. She had attempted to understand, to offer advice, to comfort. It was always her first reaction when it came to her own children. But when it didn't work, she was quick to give up the farce. Naturally, the matriarch was a stronger, colder woman. Her own mother had raised her to be just that in a somewhat harsher manner than she raised her own kids now. Perhaps she should change her methods? Be tougher on them as pups than she had been, show them the cruelties of the world before they could begin to understand them. It was something to consider if another litter came along. For now she had only Chione to worry about.

And she was done coddling her.

Natalya's posture straightened and her face stoic, lips forming into a hard line. She listened to her daughter's shouting, heard her as she flopped to the ground. She said nothing for a long time, simply directing her blind eyes to the distance. When her voice finally sounded, it was monotone. There was no longer and sympathy or encouragement to it. Clearly, that wasn't working in this daughter's case.

"If you continue choose to let a man make you so hateful and self-loathing, you will no longer be worthy of the name Olympus, Chione. You are weak now. You do not fight the darkness that threatens you. You do not speak with your family of your struggles, yet you despise us because we do not understand what you refuse to let us know. I love you, as I love all of my children, but no daughter of mine should behave as you do now."

Natalya stood and turned to leaving, pausing only briefly to speak one last line.

"Overcome it, or you will face hardships worse than you can imagine."

-exit Nat unless stopped-

It would only take a moment before Chione's heart would take in the words from her mother. As Natalya spoke, Chione choked on air and sobs. But just as her mother turned to speak her final, Chione raised her eyes, fury brewing inside. "You would just drop me?" She spat, whether Nat started to walk away or not. She rose from the ground, but kept her space back for no particular reason at all. "You would dare push me from a cliff like you did to that... that boy?!" She refused to think of him as her brother, but that part served little importance here. Chione had known none other life than with her parents and her littermates. Even as they were booted from Olympus after it was claimed. She waited to see if her mother would stop and give her the answer, or if she would just walk away. But Chione could never forgive her if she walked away, she might have just left herself. "I told you she didn't give two shits about you dearie." "Talk" Think "Charon"

Chione's words brought her pause. Natalya stopped again, her back to her daughter, and listened. She listened and she grew angry. So her daughter thought her a murderer as well? Thought that she would simply drop every pup off a cliff that irritated her? She resented the poison in the girl's voice and she wanted nothing more than to teach her just what he place was, but she knew that was a useless idea. Chione was receptive to nothing it seemed - not love, not threats, absolutely nothing.

"How dare you?" she growled without turning to face her child. "I said nothing of the sort, but clearly you believe your mother some sort of villain. Rather than ask me about what you heard, you chose to believe the uninformed words of others, to believe that I would attempt to kill my own children for no reason. Thank you, Chione, for making it clear just what you think of me."

"You will find love here no longer. You are still your father's daughter, but I no longer consider you mine. Go to him any time you need love and attention, but do not dare come to me."

And with that she would leave definitively, pain and anger coursing through her and masking the sure consequences of her words.

-exit Nat-

Her mother would stay strong with her words, but for every one that came out, Chione's eyes would weld with more tears. She stood tall, trying not to make her other see her as weak as she already did, but Chione knew not to say anything else. It was over. Even as Natalya continued to disown her, Chione remained silent, a thick line on her maw that quivered to every breath. And finally, she left. Chione collapsed again to the ground, being sure her mother wasn't at least in sight anymore. She didn't want to be here. She wanted to just grow wings and fly away. If anything, Natalya could have been her bestfriend. But now that her own mother had given up on her, she didn't know what to do. Of course she didn't believe for a second that she didn't deserve it. She asked for it. "Told you so." Inside she boiled with anger and sadness. Why was she plagued with this? "Shut up..." She choked, "Shut up!" She screamed over and over as tears fell from her eyes for what seemed like hours. She was nothing, she had nothing, and nothing could save her anymore. -Exit Chione- "Talk" Think "Charon"