Post by Eurydice on Jun 7, 2009 9:14:49 GMT -5
((Based on a half-RPd conversation that Kevin and I discussed. ^^ Told from Aura's POV, because I want to try and find a voice for writing her. You know, so I can steal her for more writings <3))
"...an' so we just got out through the gate as quick as our legs could carry us, with half the bears and wolves still on our asses," Alcyone concluded with a laugh. "I mean, I been back to the Blightwood since then, but uh, I guess I weren't really all that prepared for it the first time."
"It wasn't funny," Tristan mumbled.
"Little brothers have no sense of humor," Aura said loftily. Alcyone giggled again.
A little laughter went a long way. It was a troubled time in Nordock, Aurania Haldovin knew; she had sometimes wondered, in hearing her mother and father talk about the days when the Khajit haunted the land, what it would be like to live like that, constantly knowing that the enemy was out there, waiting to strike. Now she did.
So it was really important that they remembered to smile sometimes. She'd learned that much from her Uncle Kei.
It was also important for her to be training. Mystic Fire would be one of the groups helping to stand against the darkness, and she'd have to work hard to earn the right to call herself one of theirs. It was hard, though; she'd been away so long that it was as if she hardly knew Brosna anymore. It must have been hard for Tristan too, for he took his training just as seriously as she did, even if he had no particular desire for a group affiliation.
But she didn't need to look out for him anymore; even the thought of him as her "baby brother" was reflex more than anything else. He had grown stronger in the time she had been away with her uncle, to a degree that made her feel more than a little jealous. Oh, it was so dumb. It had been ages since she'd been the one to properly take care of him- beyond speaking for the both of them when Tristan didn't want to— which was often— but the idea of his being out there and capably fending for himself still made her... well, she didn't know what. She didn't know whether it was concern that he would slip up or guilt that she couldn't just protect him anymore.
Alcyone gave Tristan a mollifying smile, the facial equivalent to a friendly punch in the shoulder. "Oh, c'mon, stop lookin' like that... we went back and cleaned them up after we'd gotten our bearings."
Tristan mumbled something and stared mutinously at his feet.
Aura smiled faintly (Mommy and Daddy hadn't talked much about the Blightwood except to say, "Don't go there"). It was good to have a friend backing you up on something like that, and she said so.
Immediately, Tristan's head came up. "Alcyone's not my friend. She's just someone I fight with."
There was a beat of awkward silence, and if looks could kill, Aura would have donned one to make her little brother wish he'd been left to the blight bears instead. Tristan had never cared much for anyone except his sister and his mother, but ignorance was no excuse; you didn't say things like that! Even Tristan seemed to be reconsidering his words, and so Aura bit her tongue in spite of herself.
"I meant," he mumbled, cheeks red but voice firm, "fight alongside. Not 'fight with' like argue with her. I meant that we train together sometimes, but we're not friends."
Tristan's words trailed off and another uncomfortable pause ensued. "We ain't?" Alcyone finally asked in a small voice.
Alcyone probably couldn't read the look that Tristan gave her, but Aurania could. It was a gaze that spoke confusion at the disappointment coming from the lady knight (or girl knight, more accurately— Alcyone didn't look older than Tristan), not because he disliked her but because it simply didn't occur to him, to think of her as anything more than just another person that he might encounter on the road between Benzor and Brosna. He was so stupid sometimes.
Sparing half a second from fuming at her brother, Aura caught the equally confused expression on Alcyone's face, touched with a hint of disappointment, hurt, and wounded pride. For just a moment, it occurred to Aurania how silly this all was. They were just kids, all three of them. They had their loyalties and their duties, to be sure, but there shouldn't have been anything wrong with just having friends with whom they could joke and gossip and play. Aura couldn't remember when the whole "growing up" thing had happened, but...
She let the thought go, not really sure where it had been going.
In the meantime, Alcyone was trying to start a sentence, one that began "But I thought" and then "I didn't mean to" or possibly "I'm sorry if I." Eventually, the gangly, plain-faced girl spluttered to a halt and matched Tristan's pose, staring uncomfortably at the ground. "I should probably go home," was what she finally managed to say, sparing a hesitant smile at Aura and a confused one at Tristan. "...'bye."
"See you," Aura said reluctantly, doing her best to infuse the words with the subtext My brother is so stupid sometimes.
Alcyone might have caught some of that; Aura thought she saw her smile brighten slightly before the girl darted off towards Sholo Forest, slipping into the shadows as the dust settled from her abrupt departure.
"You are so stupid sometimes," she said, when she was sure Alcyone was gone.
Tristan looked at her, blankly confused. Aura sighed. She hadn't really expected anything different.
"...an' so we just got out through the gate as quick as our legs could carry us, with half the bears and wolves still on our asses," Alcyone concluded with a laugh. "I mean, I been back to the Blightwood since then, but uh, I guess I weren't really all that prepared for it the first time."
"It wasn't funny," Tristan mumbled.
"Little brothers have no sense of humor," Aura said loftily. Alcyone giggled again.
A little laughter went a long way. It was a troubled time in Nordock, Aurania Haldovin knew; she had sometimes wondered, in hearing her mother and father talk about the days when the Khajit haunted the land, what it would be like to live like that, constantly knowing that the enemy was out there, waiting to strike. Now she did.
So it was really important that they remembered to smile sometimes. She'd learned that much from her Uncle Kei.
It was also important for her to be training. Mystic Fire would be one of the groups helping to stand against the darkness, and she'd have to work hard to earn the right to call herself one of theirs. It was hard, though; she'd been away so long that it was as if she hardly knew Brosna anymore. It must have been hard for Tristan too, for he took his training just as seriously as she did, even if he had no particular desire for a group affiliation.
But she didn't need to look out for him anymore; even the thought of him as her "baby brother" was reflex more than anything else. He had grown stronger in the time she had been away with her uncle, to a degree that made her feel more than a little jealous. Oh, it was so dumb. It had been ages since she'd been the one to properly take care of him- beyond speaking for the both of them when Tristan didn't want to— which was often— but the idea of his being out there and capably fending for himself still made her... well, she didn't know what. She didn't know whether it was concern that he would slip up or guilt that she couldn't just protect him anymore.
Alcyone gave Tristan a mollifying smile, the facial equivalent to a friendly punch in the shoulder. "Oh, c'mon, stop lookin' like that... we went back and cleaned them up after we'd gotten our bearings."
Tristan mumbled something and stared mutinously at his feet.
Aura smiled faintly (Mommy and Daddy hadn't talked much about the Blightwood except to say, "Don't go there"). It was good to have a friend backing you up on something like that, and she said so.
Immediately, Tristan's head came up. "Alcyone's not my friend. She's just someone I fight with."
There was a beat of awkward silence, and if looks could kill, Aura would have donned one to make her little brother wish he'd been left to the blight bears instead. Tristan had never cared much for anyone except his sister and his mother, but ignorance was no excuse; you didn't say things like that! Even Tristan seemed to be reconsidering his words, and so Aura bit her tongue in spite of herself.
"I meant," he mumbled, cheeks red but voice firm, "fight alongside. Not 'fight with' like argue with her. I meant that we train together sometimes, but we're not friends."
Tristan's words trailed off and another uncomfortable pause ensued. "We ain't?" Alcyone finally asked in a small voice.
Alcyone probably couldn't read the look that Tristan gave her, but Aurania could. It was a gaze that spoke confusion at the disappointment coming from the lady knight (or girl knight, more accurately— Alcyone didn't look older than Tristan), not because he disliked her but because it simply didn't occur to him, to think of her as anything more than just another person that he might encounter on the road between Benzor and Brosna. He was so stupid sometimes.
Sparing half a second from fuming at her brother, Aura caught the equally confused expression on Alcyone's face, touched with a hint of disappointment, hurt, and wounded pride. For just a moment, it occurred to Aurania how silly this all was. They were just kids, all three of them. They had their loyalties and their duties, to be sure, but there shouldn't have been anything wrong with just having friends with whom they could joke and gossip and play. Aura couldn't remember when the whole "growing up" thing had happened, but...
She let the thought go, not really sure where it had been going.
In the meantime, Alcyone was trying to start a sentence, one that began "But I thought" and then "I didn't mean to" or possibly "I'm sorry if I." Eventually, the gangly, plain-faced girl spluttered to a halt and matched Tristan's pose, staring uncomfortably at the ground. "I should probably go home," was what she finally managed to say, sparing a hesitant smile at Aura and a confused one at Tristan. "...'bye."
"See you," Aura said reluctantly, doing her best to infuse the words with the subtext My brother is so stupid sometimes.
Alcyone might have caught some of that; Aura thought she saw her smile brighten slightly before the girl darted off towards Sholo Forest, slipping into the shadows as the dust settled from her abrupt departure.
"You are so stupid sometimes," she said, when she was sure Alcyone was gone.
Tristan looked at her, blankly confused. Aura sighed. She hadn't really expected anything different.