Twilight Of Isolation, [P~Vixi]

[Vixan]

Vixan pulled her eyes away from the sunset, and looked up at Sekt, giving him her full attention. She thought she remembered being at the same one, she had laughed at the ungainly chick on his fathers head. There had been no sign of the terrible affliction that was the curse of Sekts life, he had just been a ball of fluff...a smile spread across Vixans face as she thought of it, but it was immediately gone, replaced by a pained expression. That had been a week after her parents disappearance. they had never been accounted for, both had been knights and had never returned from a confrontation with a nomadic rpide who wanted to invade the headlands. She had been alone, had been forced to grow up very quickly, and even at that gathering had sat to the back of the pride group, afraid somebody would question her for being alone, would ask her about her parents...

A tiny, barely noticable tear streamed down her beak but she shook it off and forced a smile again. "What did he say?" she coaxed gently, eager to hear the words of the elders. She had never listened to their tales, and regretted it. She had always kept to herself.

[Sekt]

"I...can't remember." Sekt admitted after a moment's pause, shaking his head slowly in defeat. "Something about the first Griffin's plumage being red, and...she was covering the world with her wing, to protect us while we slept." He sighed slightly as his eyes finally dropped away from the sun ahead of them, coming to rest on the cool grass sloping down to the marshes below. "I guess I've forgotten because of how hard I've tried to blot memory of that night out, how hard I've fought to stop thinking about what happened afterwards..."

This post has been edited by Sekt on Apr 18 2009, 01:26 PM

[Vixan]

Vixan hid her disappointment at not hearing the elders words with some difficuty, but she succeeded, instead just nodding and sighing slightly. She glanced around her at the surrounding swamp trees, which were now cast mainly into shadow, and listened with a patient ear as Sekt spoke again.

"What did happen?" she asked, feeling intrusive by asking so many questions of the shy gryphon, but intrigued and unable to stop herself. She really wanted to know what was so bad that it was pushed so firmly from Sekts mind...

[Sekt]

Sekt seemed to suddenly come back to the present at the further question, stiffening as he realised where his mind's absent wanderings had taken him. He had unintentionally backed himself into a corner that he now had no way out of. He could not lie to Vixan (or anyone, for that matter), and she would surely not let him simply dismiss the detail now it had come up, and yet he had no wish to lower the tone of the conversation and spoil the mood of the beautiful evening.

Deciding after a short pause that the best course of action would be to get it over with and move on to something else as quickly as possible, he began to reply in a swift, hurried manner, his head dipping low to his chest in a mixture of embarrasment and discomfort. "That was...the first time the rest of the Pride saw me. I can still remember their looks of shock and revulsion, their whispering things behind my parents' back. I...tried to meet up with some of my own age group, make some friends, but they threw me out. At the time I was too young to understand their reasons, but their jeering and names hurt all the same. A few of the older chicks even attacked me, started chasing me like a deer hunt saying they were going to kill me...I'm not sure that they were joking. I picked up some of my first scars that day, both physical and emotional...the first of many."

He swallowed hard and closed his eyes, his voice breaking slightly as his claws dug deep into the soft earth below them, carving ruts in the grass. "And the worst part of it all...was that when we got back home, my mother...cried...all night long. Even my father wept a few times - I'd never seen him shed a tear, I thought he was invincible, too strong to cry, but he wasn't. And all the time they tried to comfort me, to tell me that everything was okay and they were just upset over a missunderstanding, but I knew...somehow, I knew that it was because of me, it was my fault!"

He had banished the thoughts for good reason, and even as he spoke he could feel his emotions welling up inside him once again, his utter despair at causing his parents so much torment and agony, his shock at the harsh and cruel world from which he had been shielded for so long, his whole life beginning to crumble and fall apart around him as reallity reared it's ugly head. That night had been the first step, the initial plunge into his dark, murky underworld of an existance where his childlike innocence had been shattered and he saw the world, and himself, in their true light. It was the harsh and brute shock of that reallity that, as he slowly came to terms with it over the course of the following months, led to the first of his many attempts on his own life, and now as the memories surfaced once again and he relived the sheer incomprehensible agony of it all, there was a real risk he could begin such a downward spiral once again. In a desperate bid to distract himself and stave off the negative thoughts, he tried to change the subject.

"I'm sorry." He took a deep breath, as if trying to physically exhale all the painful sorrows to get rid of them. "W-What about yourself, your own family? D-did you grow up in the H-Headlands Pride?"

[Vixan]

Vixan could feel his pain, she really could. But in her eyes it was unfounded. "You are beautiful," She said. "You always were, and always will be." She listened as he spoke, shaking her head sympathetically, but her demeanor changed instantly when Sekt asked about her own life.

"Yes, I was born in the headlands, lived there all my life-until the migration that is." She paused, wondering what to tel Sekt about her own life, then decided to lay it all before him. He had trusted her with his intimate feelings, she could trust him in return.

"My parents were both knights, defenders of our pride. They were often away from the cave, on duty guarding the border, but they always came back safe, so I got used to staying alone at the cave. Only, one day my mama told me and told me she and father would be away for a few days. There was a nomadic pride seeking new territory, and the scouts had reported that they wanted to take over the headlands. So the knights went to stop them"

Vixan gulped and choked back a sob, before continuing.

"Four days later, the knights returned. Only, my parents werent among them. They had disappeared, nobody had seen what happened to them in the fighting. I was left alone for the last time, and I was only a few seasons old. I grew up very quickly after that, I learned to rely on nobody, I fended for myself...I never knew the comfort of family life again..."

[Sekt]

"The world has not been kind to either of us." Sekt's voice was heavy with empathy and concern as he spoke slowly, suddenly seeming a lot more composed than before. Perhaps it was because the problems being discussed were not his own, and he was egar to assist in any way he could.

"You have my sympathies. I know what it is like to lose one's parents, but I couldn't dream of it happening so young!" Indeed, if it wasn't for his own parents' love and care he would never have survived his turbulent youth...while he had lost his family too, at least he had been old enough to comprehend what had happened, old enough to deal with (relatively speaking) the reprocussions of such an event. It was easy to forget sometimes when wrapped up in one's own problems that others had difficulties as bad as - in some respects worse - than one's own.

"We both seem to be alone." he murmured softly, the light from the slowly sinking sun reflecting like flames in his amber eyes. "Struggling with our problems with nobody to assist. Perhaps...if we cannot turn to anyone else, maybe we can at least turn to each other. If there is anything I can do to help, Vixan...andything you need, anything I can get for you, please let me know. I am struggling myself, but if at all I am capable I will try my best to assist you."

[Vixan]

At Sekts kind words, Vixan felt a warming of the heart that filled her to the brim wiwth happinedd, despite the sorrow of just a few moments ago. She felt that she had found a true friend in Sekt, as she had with Solstice. He was somebody she would do anything for, as long as it was in her power, as she knew he would do for her.

"Sekt, you are one of the kindest, most selfless gryphons I have ever met, and i am honoured to call you friend. Of course, i would do exactly for you what you would do for me. If ever you need anything-I mean anything at all-I should hope you will not hesitate to ask me." She smiled at him and tentatively moved a little closer, inteding to hug him, bu at the same time wanting to give him a chance of escape should he want it...

[Sekt]

"Mph..." Sekt grunted, turning his head away slightly as he took another deep, slightly ragged breath. For a moment it might perhaps have seemed that he was being callous or unfeeling, that he was dismissing the offer with an uncaring air, but given a few minutes to compose himself his true intentions swiftly became clear.

"Well...that's another matter..." he breathed quietly, his voice barely audible over the light breeze brushing the grass around them. "It would be cruel of me to heap my problems upon another, especially one so kind. I'm really not worth that much effort. But the thought is very much appreciated, thank you."

[Vixan]

"Oh, but I think you are," Vixan replied just as quietly. She folded her arms gently round Sekt, feeling his skeletal figure and only knowing adoration for him. He was special, she would see to it that he was never ridiculed again, that nobody ever poked fun at him for anything.

"I shall always be here for you, as I know you will be here for me. We will be there for each other." With a smile she made to pull away, to give Sekt back his personal space. "Dont forget that."

[Sekt]

The other didn't respond, but the deep emotion in his face and eyes as he glanced in Vixan's direction, although still not able to bring himself to look at her directly, said more than words ever could. His eyes slowly returned to the firey red sky as he once again became lost in his own thoughts, thinking over what had been said that evening and trying to make sence of it all. His mind was still whirling with confusion and uncertanty, and it would probably be many days before he finally worked through the details and emotionally came to terms with it, but at least now he was not so lost in panic or fear as he had been before. He felt...different. Not happy, he had forgotten the very meaning of the word, nor contented, as some discomfort still remained somewhere deep within his psychie. But now...now he could see some small potential that just perhaps, things may change for the better. Now, though he barely dared to believe it, the endless, insufferable agony of existance might possibly become a little more barable now that he had somebody to care for, and who cared for him.

Hope. That was the word he was searching for. Now, he had a friend, something he had thought completely impossible just a short time ago. And with that friendship, came the slightest inkling of another feeling he had not experienced for oh so many years - hope.

Silence pervaded for the next few minutes across the hillock as the sun slowly sank lower over the horizon, it's burning vermillion fingers slowly slipping from the expanse above their heads and giving way to the glittering, star-speckled panorama of the cosmos. Far away along the coast to the north, a cheery, flickering light began to glow as the rest of the Pride set up campfires along the beach, but their megar heat did not penetrate the cool night air drifting across the delta to where the duo sat. Lacking insulation from the chill, Sekt inadvertantly found himself shivering as the light breeze ruffled the fur across his back, and with a deep breath he slowly drew himself to his feet.

"I think...I'm going to have to go back to my cave." he murmured, his deep voice soft and gentle like the slowmoving waters of the river flowing lazily past all around them. "I have quite a low tolerance to cold. I'm sorry, I...hope you will excuse me?" He didn't want to leave her if that was not what she wanted, regardless of how uncomfortable he may be, but perhaps she could move on to the gathering on the beach and enjoy her night there...