Dusk, Meet Night
08-04-2013, 05:45 PM
Burn the land and Boil the Sea; but you can't take the sky from me
[flashback]
"You're leaving?"
Gargoyle had stiffened, and then turned, his face as impassive as ever. "And if I am?"
Crusade, Gargoyle's elder sister by a good four years, had looked him over with that one remaining eye of hers. "Is something wrong?"
"What makes you say that?"
"Because Chief Gargoyle doesn't leave his past unless he has a good reason - or a bad one." For an old bird she was pretty da-- perceptive. Gargoyle had never told her about his past. In fact the only ones that had any idea of his darker side were Ocena and Awaken - his mate and his tom-fool of a close friend. But even with a face like stone, Gargoyle couldn't only hide so much from the she-wolf that shared his blood.
"I suppose a little common respect for your leader is too much to ask?"
"I do respect you Gargoyle," the woman said quietly. "Certainly more than our other siblings ever cared to admit. But you've been off since you lost Glaciem, and since then there's only been more and more for you deal with."
Gargoyle didn't bandy words when it came to Crusade; he was too smart for that. But he wasn't exactly meek either. "Yes. Well done, Crusade. You're a genius. So what now? We hug and cry and pick flowers together?" The visage of stone cracked just enough for him to raise a mocking brow.
"That isn't what I'm suggesting," muttered the old she-wolf. "In fact I'm not suggesting anything."
"Then why bring it up?"
"Honestly? Because I wanted to tell you to be careful. See, the thing about us, Gargoyle is that we're both introverts. We don't solve our problems by pouring our hearts out. Repeating a fact or feeling just cements it in our minds. When we want to heal, we keep quiet and we think our way through to a better day - or we don't and we end up sinking slowly into insanity." She was warning him.
"You turned out alright."
"But you're not me." Crusade's gold-green orb glittered; the only sign that she knew more than she was saying. "You're strongest on your own Gargoyle, and you know it. But you're also most dangerous then."
Gargoyle blinked. "Are you through?"
"Apprently so," The old fae settled back onto her haunches, holding up her wounded foreleg gingerly. It was an injury she'd recieved before the move - running down and tackling her mate when he'd gone a touch crazy with fear. Mental flashbacks to the eruption of Mt. Animi. Gargoyle couldn't blame him, but at the same time he was rather ticked that it had cost his sister her leg. She was too old for that. Cifer was supposed to be taking care of her now, not the other way around. Ack but he didn't have the brain space to worry about yet another thing right now. He needed some space. He needed a couple days of shore leave.
[end flashback]
Cut to a icey shelf in the far north. The wind roared as though it would never die - tearing over the ocean, scaling the cliffsides, bounding over the snow and tearing at ever inch of fur. Garogyle stood upon the edge of the world, watching the tides change. He hadn't wanted to mull over his sister's words. He'd wanted to bury them away for later. This was the time when he was supposed to clear his head, to feel refreshed and different and free. But that was asking just a tad too much of his soul at the moment. His heart didn't want to be alone, because there were whispers there that he was better when he was, and he didn't want to have to believe them.
It didn't matter if they were true anyway. He knew who he wanted to be, who he would be despite any instincts to the contrary. He was a chief and a father. He was a mate and a brother and an uncle. He was a warrior and a hunter and a soldier, but that didn't mean he had to be a killer or a murderer, not any more. That was supposed to be long past - the dark days of which he never spoke. He didn't need to be dwelling on this. He didn't need to be thinking of it. What he needed was a distraction.
- and just like that, a slight tremor and bend in the winds brought to his grey nose the scent of a stranger. Whether curious friend or deadly foe, Gargoyle was prepared to welcome them with open arms. Claws not necessarily included. He whipped round with a speed that belied his great size.
GARGOYLE
41 inches of doberman & timber wolf
been just about everything but a saint
41 inches of doberman & timber wolf
been just about everything but a saint